Filipino gymnastics star Carlos Yulo is taking on a mix of small and big battles as he looks forward to redeeming himself in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yulo will have a chance to sharpen his skills further before competing in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia when he joins the fourth and last edition of the World Cup in Cairo, Egypt on April 27.
Yulo said he will pursue more ways to execute better movements in the floor exercise, the pommel horse, the vault and the beams.
“Ang preparations ko ay katulad din sa ibang competitions ko. Pero mas mahirap,” said the Manila-native gymnast who returned on Tuesday to the country for a short vacation and to be with his family.
He also got to test the new facilities that the Japanese government turned over to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines in simple ceremonies on Friday.
The 4’11” Yulo is coming off splendid performances that had him finishing his campaign in the Baku leg of the 2023 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series with two gold medals on Sunday in Azerbaijan.
While in Baku, Yulo said his routine in the floor exercises were getting better, along with the things that he does in pommel horse.
He admitted that he needs to improve on the quality of his exercises in the rings and the vault.
But it is in the difficulty levels of the parallel bars where he struggled, according to Yulo. But he is getting there.
With Yulo still fine-tuning his movements while in Azerbaijan, he just won by fractions of a point.
And this was evident when he took the men’s vault gold, with an average of 14.933 points for the championship trophy.
Yulo was ahead of Harry Hepworth of Great Britain, who settled for silver with a score of 14.816, which was just a fraction adrift when it ended.