Tokyo Olympian Carlos Yulo picked up a bronze medal, while Filipino-American bet Emma Malabuyo stayed in contention for a medal, also in the floor exercises events, of the 2024 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series’ Baku leg over the weekend in Azerbaijan.
Yulo’s good fortune in the men’s action came after his missed finals’ qualification in three other events, the men’s parallel bars, where he was supposed to defend his crown, the pommel horse and the vault.
The 24-year-old Yulo, who showed up with Filipino coach Aldrin Casteneda after parting ways with long-time mentor Munehiro Kugimiya, tallied a total of 14.33 points in the floor exercises, to end up third behind gold-medal winner Yahor Skaramkou of Belarus, who had a 14.933.
Kazuki Minami of Japan, a gold and two-time silver medalist of the World Championships, was second with 14.66 points.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles-California-born Lee Jung-Ruivivar, who landed sixth in the preliminaries, made it to eighth place in the women’s uneven bars finals.
Earning 11.900 points, Ruivivar is expected to boost her Olympic qualification bid with the points that she will earn.
Kaylia Nemour of Algeria claimed the gold medal with 15.433 points, while Elisa Iorio, a bronze medalist of the World Championships, claimed the silver medal with 14.33 points.
Katelyn Jong of the USA was third with 13.733.
On the other hand, Malabuyo is still competition for a medal, after she made it to the finals of the women’s floor exercises on Sunday.
Malabuyo earned an opportunity to go for a podium finish after she landed sixth in the women’s floor exercises preliminaries.
Malabuyo, a five-time member of the US national team, advanced to the finals after she tied with Panama’s Hillary Heron for sixth and seventh places, with 13 points each.
This allowed Malabuyo to fight for medals with Ou Yushan of China, Reese Esponda of the USA and Aiko Sugihara of Japan, all who made it to the eight-member finals as well.