Carlos Edriel Yulo, one of the favorites to win the gold, was disappointed on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila) of his seventh-place finish in the finals of his pet event, the men’s floor exercise at the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the M&S Bank Arena.
The finals of two more events in the vault and parallel bars are up next and Yulo quickly brushed off his bad feelings, as he seeks to bounce back with better finishes on Sunday evening (Monday morning in Manila).
“I feel a bit down because of what happened today, but I’m going to review what I did today and build my motivation again,” said Yulo.
The Philippines’ top gymnast did not have a great landing, as he dismounted with his bottom hitting the mat first after performing a two-and-a-half front double pike.
“I didn’t kick like I do in in practice. It was a bit too soft. I felt I couldn’t make it, but I tried to correct it on the landing. It was affected by my first stumble, and then it is like a chain, you can’t stop it,” added Yulo.
This earned him 13.300 points and put him out of contention for a podium finish.
The gold went to British star Giarnni Regini-Moran, who came out of years of injuries to win a gold medal.
The 24 -year-old Regini-Morani, who has fully recovered from MCL and ACL injuries that he got from a training accident at age 17, found a chance to win the gold when Yulo, a pre-event favorite, fell on his first pass and Japan’s Ryosuke Doi stepped off the floor.
“I didn’t believe I would be strong enough to be with the world’s best because of what I went through. My knee is never going to be 100% again, but I’ve learned to live with it,” said Regini-Moriani.
The Great Yarmouth-born bet then executed the joint, a very difficult routine ever done by a gymnast in the finals, and then perfected all of his landings to score a superb 14.533.
Newly-minted men’s all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto of Japan settled for the silver (14.500), while his compatriot, Doi grabbed the bronze (14.266).
Last year. Yulo also missed a chance at podium in the floor exercise, ending up fifth among the eight finalists after tallying a score of 14.566 points. Yulo then took the vault gold before ending with a silver in the parallel bars.
“Yesterday was okay—I hit it. But today I had a feeling that I lost myself. But maybe I will gain experience from here despite my performance. I want to come back stronger next year,” said Yulo.