Double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo shone on the opening day of the 2025 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, earning top marks in his signature events.
Yulo was part of Subdivision 6 alongside teams from Morocco, Thailand, Mexico, Singapore, Canada, Colombia, Qatar, Sweden, Luxembourg, and Albania.
He garnered a score of 14.566 in the floor exercise, good for second best behind Jake Jarman of Great Britain (14.700).
Yulo took command on vault, scoring a 14.9 on his piked Dragulescu, followed by a 14.6 for his handspring Randi.
His average of 14.75 led the field.
In close second was Armenian Arthur Davtyan (14.566) while Ukraine’s Nathan Chepurnyi was running third (14.316).
“I want to thank God for my performance. I am also just grateful that I was safe [from any mishap]. I am just really grateful that I got to compete, show my performance and come back here in a good state,” Yulo said after his performance.
“While I wasn’t able to do the all-around, I am still proud that I am here and still aiming for the best,” he added.
Yulo is recovering from wrist injuries that are keeping him from competing in all six apparatus.
“We’re proud that Carlos was able to perform well and make it to the finals of both events. This was our aim so, hopefully, he will duplicate his golden performances in Paris,” said gymnastics chief Cynthia Carrion.
Yulo is the lone Filipino gymnast to qualify for the apparatus finals, after his teammates missed the cut in their debuts.
Juancho Miguel Besana wound up in 39th place in the all-around with 68.645 points, failing to make the cut of 24 athletes to the finals.
Ivan Cruz finished 66th overall in the vault (12.000) while Justine Ace de Leon 45th in the rings (12.200), where only the top eight in each individual event advanced to the finals.
The men’s qualification continues today with Subdivisions 7 and 8, while the Philippine women’s team will take to the floor in Subdivision 7, together with Indonesia, Tunisia, Colombia, Mexico, and Syria.
The men’s All-Around Final follows on October 22, with Apparatus Finals slated for October 24 (men’s floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings; women’s vault, uneven bars) and 25 (men’s vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar; women’s balance beam, floor exercise). (ABS-CBN News)