Carlos Yulo qualifies for all-around, three apparatus finals at World Championships

Carlos Yulo during his parallel bars routine in the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. –JAT TENORIO/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Carlos Edriel Yulo surged to the top of the men’s floor exercise and moved to the finals in four events at the ongoing 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool, England.

Yulo tallied 15.266 in the floor to lead all qualifiers to the medal round of the event that the Filipino gymnastics ace ruled in 2019 Stuttgart, Germany.

“It’s a really good result, but it’s just the qualifying. I’m not being boastful, it’s not the final yet so if I can do it in the final maybe, I will say that I’m satisfied,’’ said Yulo after completing all of his routines in the apparatuses at the M&S Bank Arena.

Yulo also delivered in the men’s vault where the Filipino dynamo is the defending world champion by finishing second in the qualifier with 14.849.

“Right now I’m really glad but not satisfied because there are a lot of areas where I can still improve. Vault was really scary, that’s my first time doing the Ri Se Gwang, so that’s really big for me,’’ said Yulo.

Ri Se Gwang is a vault named after North Korea’s Rio De Janeiro 2016 Olympics vault gold medalist.

“It gave me confidence right now to compete in the finals,’’ he added.

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Yulo likewise moved into medal contention in the parallel bars where he claimed a silver medal in the world champs last year in Kitakyushu, Japan after placing fourth with 15.300.

Aiming for a top 6 finish in the men’s all-around, Yulo was well within range following a third ranking among 24 gymnasts who qualified to the finals after compiling 84.664 in all six apparatuses.

Wataru Tanigawa of Japan topped the all-around with 84.731 and Japanese Olympic gold medalist Daiki Hashimoto checked in second with 84.665.

“Of course, I would like to beat them. This is the first time I’m going to be in the first group and it is a big, big achievement for me,’’ said Yulo.

The finals of the all-around is set Friday while Yulo gets a shot at the podium in the floor on Saturday before the finale in the vault and parallel bars on Sunday.

“I’m going to try to beat what I did today, to be more aggressive,’’ said Yulo.

Yulo placed 10th in the rings (14.066), 31st in the horizontal bar and 102nd in the pommel horse.