Yulo fancied to win floor exercise gold

MANILA, Philippines — Caloy Yulo is determined to reclaim his throne as the best in floor exercise as he sees action in the final of the event in the 50th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan today.

The 21-year-old Yulo will come in as the favorite being the floor exercise winner in Stuttgart, Germany two years ago. But he failed to land on the podium during the Tokyo Olympics last August.

Last Wednesday, Yulo topped the qualifying round where he beat 102 rivals with an impressive score of 15.166. Still, he would need another tour de force performance to achieve his goal.

“If Caloy sticks to the floor and no skipping, gold for sure,” Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) president Cynthia Carrion told The STAR.

Yulo also came out on top in the parallel bars qualifiers over a field of 96 by registering 15.565 and third in the vault that drew 47 competitors with a score of 14.808.

Carrion has high hopes Yulo would also end up with podium finishes in these two events.

“We want gold in floor and parallel bars and a silver or bronze in vault, nothing less,” she said.

The floor exercise finale is set at 3:10 p.m. (Philippine time) today while the vault and parallel bars finals are scheduled tomorrow.

Yulo will face strong opposition that includes Finland’s Emil Sorabuo, South Korea’s Ryu Sunghyun, Great Britain’s Hayden Skinner and Japanese Kazuki Minami.

Yulo is out for greater redemption for his Tokyo Olympics disappointments after he wound up only 44th in the floor exercise and falling short of the bronze in the vault and ending up fourth.

“He’s phenomenal and still peaking,” said Carrion.