No first day jitters for two-time world champion Carlos Edriel ‘Caloy’ Yulo as he boosted the Philippines’ chances of getting its first Olympic gymnastics medal by advancing to the all-around, floor exercise, and vault finals during the conclusion of men’s artistic gymnastic qualification at Bercy Arena on Saturday, July 27.
With all three subdivisions complete, Yulo is set to display more action after totaling a score of 83.631, landing him on ninth spot good enough to be eligible for all-around finals.
Bouncing back from his Tokyo 2020 performance where he only qualified for vault finals and failed to make it to the podium, the 24-year old Filipino gymnast pulled out a redemption card after clinching the sixth spot in subdivision 2 of the same apparatus with an average score of 14.683.
Showing great mastery and domination on his pet event, the floor exercise where he was a former world champion, Yulo jumped straight to second place with an impressive score of 14.766, falling behind Great Britain’s Jake Jarman who recorded 14.966.
Despite showcasing a clean routine in the pommel horse, Caloy’s 13.066 score fell short to propel him in the finals. However, his performance on the said apparatus showed his significant improvement after he broke his Tokyo 2020 record where he only scored 11.83.
Filipino fans are likely to miss watching the Filipino pride compete in the parallel bars and rings’ finals, as his 14.533 and 13.000 records, respectively, are out of the top eight contention.
The top eight in each apparatus will reach the finals, while only the top 24 gymnasts out of over 90 hopefuls will make it to the cut of the individual all-around.
The men’s artistic gymnastics finals are set to conclude on Monday, July 29.IMT Sports
REPORTING by Vincent Dave Molavin, West Visayas State University College of Communication intern; EDITING by Elyrose Naorbe
