FILIPINO gymnast Carlos “Caloy” H. Yulo bagged the gold medal in the men’s vault event of the 50th International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, on Sunday.
Twenty-one-year-old Mr. Yulo scored an average of 14.916 points to take the top spot in the vault finals held at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium. He finished ahead of Yonekura Hidenobu of Japan (14.866) and Medvedev Andrey of Israel (14.649), who placed second and third, respectively.
Mr. Yulo’s gold in the vault was his first title in this year’s edition of the world championships and provided redemption after he fell short in his push to defend his floor exercise title on Saturday by finishing fifth in the event.
The currently Japan-based gymnast won the world championship in floor exercise back in 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany, which also earned him a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
In winning gold in the vault event, Mr. Yulo was towed by a solid showing in the second vault with a Dragulescu (front handspring double front with a half twist out) where he scored 15.033, built on a difficulty of 5.600 and execution of 9.433.
In the first vault, where he did three twists before landing, he had a score of 14.800 – 5.600 (difficulty) and 9.200 (execution).
Japan’s Hidenobu had a score of 15.000 in his first vault, but fell in the second with a 14.733 output.
Mr. Yulo’s world championship title in the vault was also a bounce-back for him after failing to land a podium finish in the event in the Tokyo Games in August. He finished fourth in the vault finals in his Olympic debut.
Disappointed, he immediately went back to work, fine-tuning his skills to live up to the standards he has put up for himself.
He made it known that the world championships in Japan was part of his redemption tour.
Apart from winning the gold in the vault event, Mr. Yulo also nabbed the silver medal in the parallel bars on Sunday, tallying a total of 15.300 points. China’s Hu Xuwei topped the event with 15.466. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo