Philippines’ Carlos Edriel Yulo competes in the floor event at the mens team qualification during the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Kitakyushu City Gymnasium in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka prefecture on October 20, 2021. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Carlos Yulo literally took a stumble and failed to defend his floor exercise title on Saturday, finishing a badly beaten fifth as an Italian won it over a determined home bet in the 50th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at Kitakyushu City Gymnasium in Japan.
The 21-year-old Manila native had a costly error when he nearly lost balance in one sequence to take a big penalty as Nicola Bartolini copped the gold medal with a score of 14.800, nipping Japanese Kazuki Minami, who tallied 14.766 and Finn Emil Soravuo, who totaled 14.700.
Yulo was good for 14.566 and could have won had it not been for a deduction of 0.3 points for that error.
The finish wasn’t actually what was expected as Yulo was flashing tremendous form, having topped the qualifiers with a 15.166 total despite seeing action in his first event since a similar disappointing finish in the Tokyo Olympics nearly three months ago.
But all is not lost for the dynamo who learned the sport while watching national gymnasts as a boy at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, which is a stone’s throw from where he was born and raised, as he sees action in the vault and parallel bars finals on Sunday.
But the floor exercise is where Yulo was expected to deliver, that being his pet event which catapulted him to world consciousness by winning the 2019 edition in Munich, Germany.
South Korea’s Ryu Sung-hyun was at fourth with a score of 14.600.