JAKARTA—Paris Olympics’ double gold medalist Carlos Edriel Yulo secured a bronze medal in the men’s floor exercise finals of the 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Friday.
Yulo, who previously won the event at the 2024 Paris Summer Games and the 2019 Stuttgart edition, scored 14.533 points. He appeared somewhat out of sync after a four-day break, having achieved a slightly higher score of 14.566 in the qualifiers over the weekend.
He was able to salvage the bronze behind the 1-2 finish of two Britons, bannered by Paris Olympics’ bronze medalist Jake Jarman, who bagged his second world gold medal with a top score of 14.866 points while compatriot Luke Whitehouse took the silver medal (14.666).
In a demanding discipline where minute increments can spell the difference between victory and defeat, the pint-sized Pinoy gymnast was penalized .333 points, which was the winning margin of Jarman over Yulo.
Backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Yulo, 25, was the second athlete on the mat, seemingly lacking the same dynamic and explosive energy he showcased in the Paris Summer Games, where he reigned supreme with an output of 15.000 points.
As the second athlete to see action, he had a fleeting moment at the top with his dismal score after American Kameron Nelson opened the men’s floor exercise with a tally of 14.133 points
But his expression flashed on the huge video monitor after his performance was hinted that it might not last, and, true enough, Whitehouse wrested it away with a solid outing that netted him 14.666 points.
The Englishman had to cool his heels for a while before countryman Jarman, whose mother is a Filipina from Cebu, took to the stage as the second-to-the-last gymnast to come up with an impressive routine that won the nod of the judges.
“I have no regrets, I did my best and gave my all but Jarvis and Luke just happened to be better today. I am grateful that I reached two apparatus and that is a big plus for me,” Yulo said.
“There is still the vault finals and I aim to do better than today,” added the gymnast, who won the event in the 2021 world edition in Kitakyushu, Japan just months after the Tokyo Olympics.
“Between Carlos and me, it is like a friendly rivalry since we face each other often on the world stage. But this gold is quite special since I fancy myself to be a floor exercise guy and winning this is a validation of that,” Jarman, a vault champion in the previous meet held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2023, said.
Competing in his seventh straight world competition since making his debut In Doha, Qatar in 2018, Yulo still has a chance to bring home the bacon on Saturday in the vault finals at the close of the meet.
He is considered the prohibitive favorite in the event after topping the qualifiers with 14.750 points.
