Gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo is inching toward his dream of making it to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The 18-year-old sprung with confidence, executed a couple of twists and turns in mid-flight and had a near-flawless landing for a silver medal in the vault competitions of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Yulo, whose Olympic path will be backed by the Siklab Atleta Pilipinas Sports Foundation Inc., scored 14.183 points to place second behind gold medalist Pavel Bulavsky (14.283) of Belarus. Georgian Konstantin Kuzovkov got the bronze.
“He’s nearing his Olympic dream,’’ said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines president Cynthia Carrion.
Last month, Yulo pocketed a bronze medal in the Melbourne leg of the FIG Artistic Individual Apparatus World Cup series.
Finishing on the podium in the World Cup allowed Yulo to earn more points in his bid to qualify for Tokyo.
The Doha, Qatar, leg of the World Cup on March 21 to 24 will be Yulo’s preparation for the Asian Games in Indonesia in August and the Doha world championships in October.
A two-time Palarong Pambansa champion, Yulo is a scholar of the Olympic Solidarity Program under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama.
Before climbing up the senior ranks, Yulo collected a gold medal in the parallel bars event of the 14th Asian Junior Gymnastics Championships in Thailand last year.