Karl Eldrew Yulo suffered an injury during his opening routine in the boys’ all-around event of the ongoing 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships.
Despite visibly limping, the 16-year-old Yulo showed remarkable composure and still managed to finish eighth on Friday evening at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.
“I really don’t know what happened. Bigla na lang siyang sumakit nung patalon na ako,” said Yulo, who will now shift his focus to the three of six apparatus finals he qualified for last Friday.
Yulo tallied 78.731 points after six rotations to secure eighth place overall. His lowest score came in his final event—the rings—where he posted 12.066 for 17th place.
Arsenii Dukho of Russia topped the all-around with 82.031 points, followed by Japan’s Nao Ojima with 81.799. China’s Yang Lanbin finished third with 81.099, while American Danila Leykin placed fourth with 79.866.
The younger brother of Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Yulo said he felt pain in his right ankle moments after he lifted off in the vault exercise. He was penalized 0.3 points for a shaky landing.
“Sobrang taas po ng confidence ko. Magbababa na lang po ng elements. I hurt myself during the vault. Maglilinis na lang ako ng mga routines sa next events ko,” Yulo added.
He tried to recover in Rotation 2 but earned just 13.066 on the horizontal bar, dropping him to ninth.
In Rotation 3, he executed a double front flip with an almost stuck landing, scoring a high 14.33 to momentarily climb to third overall.
A 13.00 on the pommel horse in Rotation 4 kept him in the top three, but he later slid down the standings as Yang and Ojima continued their consistent performances.
“It’s not perfect for me. But I will do my very best to get to the top 3. Pero kapag hindi kinaya ng powers ko, it’s OK. I still have many events,” said Yulo, who appreciated the cheers from the large, supportive crowd, including his brother and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz.
On Sunday, Yulo will aim for podium finishes in the floor exercise, the vault, and the horizontal bar.
