Carlos Yulo put on a show of force Sunday after the Filipino pride captured two gold medals and a bronze at the close of the 10th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships at the OCBC Center in Singapore.
Following his triumph in the floor exercise and a runner-up finish in the all-around, Yulo, 23, reigned supreme in the vault and in the parallel bars. He capped his brilliance with a bronze in the horizontal bars.
‘He believes he will win the floor, parallel bars and vault.’
The judges awarded the Manila-born but Tokyo-based Yulo 14.299 points to top the vault that left Abdulaziz Mirvaliev of Uzbekistan settling for silver with 14.083 points and South Korea’s Kim Jaeho winding up with the bronze after getting 13.766 points.
Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Juancho Miguel Besana placed last in the eight-man final in the vault with 13.417 points.
Like his gold medal wins in the floor exercise and vault, Yulo successfully defended his parallel bars crown after posting a score of 15.266 points.
Individual all-around champion Shinnosuke Oka of Japan settled for silver this time by registering 15.133 points while Yin Dehang of China got the bronze with 15.100 points.
Yulo capped his campaign with a bronze in the horizontal bar after 14.033 points.
China’s Tian Hao won the event with 14.533 points while Oka came in second place with 14.366 points.
Yulo finished the tournament with 3-1-1 gold-silver-bronze tally for a total of five medals, a medal better compared with his performance in Doha last year.
Yulo’s sterling showing also put his quest for a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics on track as he has been assured of a stint in the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium this September.
Unless Yulo steps on a banana peel, Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion feels it’s a matter of time before the world champion makes the Olympic grade.
“He believes he will win the floor, parallel bars and vault,” Carrion said last Friday, a day before the apparatus finals began.
The women’s team also made their presence felt as Elma Malabuyo took home the silver of the floor exercise with a score of 13.166 points.
China’s Zhang Qinying won the event with 13.233 points while Shin sSolyi of South Korea wound up at third place with 13.066 points.
Filipino-American gymnast Aleah Finnegan, who took the bronze medal in vault last Saturday, missed the podium after tallying 12.966 points.
The Louisiana State University athlete, however, would make it up with a bronze in the balance beam 12.833 points.
Zhang dominated this apparatus as well, scoring 14.200 points for the gold while her teammate Zhang Xinyi settled for silver with 13.133 points.
Like Yulo, Finnegan is also going to the World Championships as she placed seventh in the individual all-around.
Kylee Kvamme, who will play University of Alabama next year, was able to make the cut for the Belgian meet as three Chinese gymnasts, two Korean gymnasts and two Taiwanese gymnasts have already qualified for the worlds.
Carrion said the next step for Finnegan and Kvamme will be making a mark in the World Championships.
“We don’t know about them because the Chinese, the Japanese and the Koreans are ahead of them. I’m happy that they’re in the Worlds but they have to work hard to win to qualify for the Olympics,” Carrion said.
The Philippines ended the tournament with three golds, three silvers and three bronzes for a third-place overall finish behind Japan (11-7-4) and China (10-7-5).
