FILE–Karl Eldrew Yulo. Photo from Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya
Gymnast Karl Eldrew Yulo has so far crowned himself as the athlete with the most number of gold medals at the 2023 Palarong Pambansa.
The 15-year-old brother of world champion Carlos Yulo raked victories in four apparatuses—horizontal bar, floor exercise, vault and pommel horse—hiking his golden collection to six in secondary boys’ artistic gymnastics.
Yulo topped the horizontal bar with 9.000 points and got the highest rating in the floor (13.500) and vault (13.950) before capping it off with a 9.250 output in the pommel horse on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
He likewise led the National Capital Region to the team title after earlier bagging the gold medal in the individual all-around.
“There was a lot of pressure for me to perform. Everybody expected me to win, so I tried my best to deliver,’’ said Yulo in Filipino.
Hillarion Palles, Yulo’s teammate, placed second in the horizontal bar and pommel horse while another NCR standout, King Cjay Pernia, secured the silver medals in the floor exercise and vault.
Yulo, an incoming Grade 10 in Adamson University, made the Palaro his playground, collecting five golds in 2017 Antique, four in Vigan 2018 and five in Davao City in the elementary division before the pandemic put the Games for student-athletes in the freezer for three years.
MEDAL TALLY AS OF AUGUST 4
Yulo’s clump of medals boosted NCR’s climb atop the medal tally with 46 golds, 43 silvers and 34 bronzes in the multi-event meet hosted by Marikina City and organized by the Department of Education with technical support from the Philippine Sports Commission.
Western Visayas is breathing down NCR’s neck at second overall on the penultimate day of action with 40 golds, 29 silvers and 24 bronzes followed by Calabarzon (Region IV-A) at third (34-40-35).