Carlos Yulo still has high hopes for Olympic gold despite recent bronze finish

MANILA, Philippines – Despite an uninspiring performance in a recent competition in Japan, world champion gymnast Carlos Edriel “Caloy” Yulo remained on track in ending the country search for an elusive Olympic gold medal.

The Tokyo-bound Yulo faltered in his pet floor exercise but salvaged a bronze in vault in the 2020 All-Japan Senior Championships, which was his first tournament of the year since scooping up a pair of mints and five silvers in last December’s Southeast Asian Games.

The 20-year-old Yulo finished tied for third with three-time world champion Kenzo Shirai with a 14.733 out of more than 100 participants and each were awarded a bronze

Japanese Wataru Tanagawa and Kaesuke Asato topped the event with a 14.900 to share the gold.

In the floor exercise where he won the world title in Stuttgart, Germany last year, Yulo wound up in a three-way tie at 19th spot alongside Japan’s Tatsuki Tanaka and Kentaro Yunoki with a 13.966.

The pocket-sized wonder ended up 12th in the individual all-around with an 83.398 before that bronze saved his day.

“There will be another all-around competition that Caloy will join on December 13 and hopefully he will do much better,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.

Yulo is one of the four Filipinos who have secured berths to Tokyo with the others being pole-vaulter EJ Obiena and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial and Irish Magno.

And of the four, Yulo could be the country’s best chance at delivered a historic gold in the quadrennial summer games.