CARLOS Edriel Yulo kicked off his campaign in the 40th FIG Artistic Gymnastics Championships in spectacular fashion yesterday, securing top spot in the men’s floor exercise and parallel bars with outstanding scores at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium in Japan.
After cooling his heels for two hours as play was stopped while organizers disinfected the arena when a Colombian gymnast tested for COVID-19, Yulo unleashed his pent-up energy with a dazzling play on the floor, wresting the lead in his pet event on top of a record-breaking show in the parallel bars.
He began his title-retention bid in the floor exercise with 15.166 points, relegating erstwhile Japanese frontrunner Minami Kazuki (14.966) and Kazahk Karimi Milad (14.941) to second and third, respectively.
Yulo was even more eye-popping in the parallel bars with 15.566 points, shattering his previous national mark of 14.333 points in the all-around qualifiers of the 2019 edition of the competition in Stuttgart, Germany.
He wrested the lead from Japan’s Minami Kazuki (14.966), who slid to second while Karimi Milad of Kazakhstan (14.941) dropped to third place in the provisional overall qualifying standings.
The diminutive Filipino dynamo also wheeled into contention in the vault with 14.808 points, good for third place, to hound the Ukraine’s Chepurnyi Nazar and South Korean veteran Yan Hak-Seon, who had identical scores of 14.883, the latter taking top spot with the harder routine.
Gymnastics Association of the Philippines President Cynthia Carrion, who has been in Kitakyushu since last week, said that Yulo remained calm and composed despite the delay.
Unlike in the 2019 edition in Stuttgart, Germany, Carrion said Yulo and Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya decided to focus only on his favorite event, the floor exercise, the vault and parallel bars.
“This was done so that he (Yulo) won’t get tired on his three main apparatus. He has no chances in the rings, pommel horse and high (horizontal) bar so why perform them when he is not fighting for the all-around anyway,” she noted.
With just one group of gymnasts remaining on the floor at press time, it was unlikely that Yulo’s place in his trio of events would change, according to Carrion, virtually ensuring that he would vie for medals in the apparatus finals on Saturday and Sunday.
The top eight qualifiers in each of the apparatuses, including the rings, pommel horse and horizontal bar, will make it to medal play.
