CARLOS “CALOY” YULO didn’t disappoint in Doha by adding a silver medal in parallel bars and bronze in vault to go with his gold medal in floor exercise that boost his bid to make this Septmeber’s world championships where berths to the Paris 2024 Olympics are at stake.
Yulo vowed to do better in the International Gymnastics Federation Artistic World Cup series after settling for a bronze medal in bars in the first leg the other week in Cottbus, Germany.
Do better he did at the Aspire Dome in the Qatari capital starting Saturday as he dominated his favorite floor exercise—the event that made him world champion in 2019 that came with a qualifying slot to the Tokyo Games—and made the podium in each of the other two events.
Yulo registered 14.933 points for the silver in the men’s parallel bars behind gold medalist Illia Kovtun (14,966) of Ukraine and Arican Ferhat (14.733) of Turkey.
He got 14.833 points in vault—the event he dominated in the 2021 Kitakyushu worlds—for the bronze behind Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (15.083) and Ukraine’s Igor Radivilov (14.899).
The 23-year-old Yulo garnered 14. 833 points to beat Japan’s Kazuki Minami (14.200) and Britain’s Luke Whitehouse (13.966) in the floor exercise final.
“It’s really good to have all kinds of medals. I’m very happy,” Gymnastic Association of the Philippines President Cynthia Carrion-Norton told BusinessMirror through internet call. “Caloy is taking this seriously after what happened to Cottbus.”
Juancho Miguel Besana is campaigning in the series alongside Yulo but he has yet to make the podium.
Yulo flew to Baku in Azerbaijan Sunday for the third leg from March 9 to 12 together with Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama. His last stop is the Cairo fourth leg from April 27 to 30.
The series will determine who qualifies for the world championships—a Paris 2024 qualifier—in Antwerp, Belgium, from September 30 to October 8.
