Tokyo Olympics-bound Carlos Yulo and Rayderley Zapata of Dominican Republic shared the spotlight as No. 1 ranked gymnasts in the floor exercise apparatus based on the latest rankings released by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
Yulo and Zapata scored identical 70 points based on their performances in elite tournaments since 2018.
The Filipino gymnast gained 20 points each after winning bronze at the 43rd Turnier Der Meister FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup in Cottbus, Germany in 2018 as well as at the 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Doha, Qatar, and 30 points with his gold-medal feat at the 2019 Melbourne World Cup in Australia.
Russia’s Kirill Prokopev came in third with 64 points, followed by Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat and Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi with 60 and 52 points.
Completing the Top 10 were Finland’s Emil Soravuo (48), Korea’s Ryu Sunghyun (48), Japan’s Kazuki Minami (46), Netherland’s Casimir Schmidt (46) and Great Britain’s Hayden Skinner (40).
The 20-year-old Yulo, who currently trains in Japan, made history in 2019 as the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to win the gold medal at the world artistic gymnastics in the floor exercise, earning him an Olympic berth to Tokyo.
He is tipped to deliver the country’s elusive Olympic gold medal along with fellow qualifiers pole vaulter EJ Obiena and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno.