The road to the 2024 Paris Olympics has just begun for Asian champion Carlos Yulo.
And he will have to be ready for better-than-ever performances when he competes in five world championships to make it to the quadrennial meet.
The 22-year-old Yulo is aware of this as he immediately plunged into training after he was given a warm victory party by members of the national men’s and women’s team by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines on Tuesday at the Heritage Hotel.
“I have no problem in scoring points on my event. I just need to brush up on the levels and difficulties on two of my events,” said Yulo, who arrived in Manila on Sunday after a triumphant campaign in the 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar.
The 4’11” Yulo claimed three golds and a silver, to go with a fourth-place finish in the Doha tournament, where he was rewarded with five slots to the FIG Artistic World Championships in Liverpool from October 29 to November 6.
Not only will Yulo prepare for Liverpool, he will also have to be ready for world meets to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan next year, and in Doha, Qatar, Cottbus, Germany, and in Cairo, Egypt.
“So, this is his first step, which is to qualify to the World Cup. And we have five World Cups coming,” said GAP president Cynthia Carrion.
Carrion said they are not just celebrating Yulo’s win, but the success of the national team in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games, where the women’s team contributed one gold and two bronze medals.
Yulo ended the Asian meet with two more gold medals during the final day of the tournament, with his first-place finishes coming from the vault and the parallel bars. His gold-medal finish in the floor exercises was his first on Friday, a day after he settled for a silver medal in the men’s all-around.
He also had a fourth-place performance in the rings during the late Friday evening finals.
Yulo, who is returning to Tokyo for training, said he has made a lot improvements in the rings and the horizontal bars, to go with the all-around.
Training has been non-stop for Yulo, who is set to continue his practice sessions when he returns to Japan on Wednesday.
After visiting his family’s home province in Pangasinan on Monday, Yulo has gotten busy with daily practice sessions, with coach Munehiro Kugimiya virtually monitoring him from Japan.