MANILA, Philippines – If things go his way, Carlos Yulo may end up as the Philippines’ first medalist in the Paris Olympics.
Yulo hopes to capitalize on the first of his three shots at a medal as he competes in the men’s artistic gymnastics individual all-around final at the Bercy Arena on Wednesday, July 31.
The reigning Asian all-around champion, Yulo showed he can go toe-to-toe with the best in the world after placing ninth in the qualification with a total of 83.631 points.
Yulo aims to bank on his pet events as he placed second in floor exercise with 14.766 points and sixth in vault with an average of 14.683 points to reach the finals of both apparatuses.
His performances in the other apparatuses were promising, with Yulo posting 14.333 in parallel bars, 13.466 in horizontal bar, and 13.066 in pommel horse – marks that were all higher than his scores in the Tokyo Games.
Yulo netted his lowest score in still rings with 13.000.
Former world champion Zhang Boheng of China topped the all-around qualification with 88.597 points, followed by Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka (86.865) and Daiki Hashimoto (85.064), who led their country to the team gold.
His Olympic title defense in horizontal bar crushed after surprisingly failing to make the final, Hashimoto hopes to bounce back by retaining the individual all-around gold he won in the Tokyo Games.
China’s Xiao Ruoteng, who finished as runner-up to Hashimoto, placed fourth in the qualification with 84.898 points, while Great Britain’s Jake Jarman (84.897) and Joe Fraser (84.666) landed fifth and sixth, respectively.
Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev netted 84.631 points for seventh and Italy’s Yumin Abbadini edged Yulo for eighth with 83.933 points.
Other notable names in the 24-man all-around final include World Artistic Gymnastics Championships medalists Illia Kovtun of Ukraine and Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan. – Rappler.com