Carlos Yulo is using his Tokyo Olympics experience as a springboard to retain his title – and win more – at the ongoing 50th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.
A heavy favorite at the Olympics after winning the floor exercise world title in 2019, Yulo did not meet the expectations after failing to advance to the medal round.
“I was, I can say, painful,” Yulo said in an interview with fig-gymnastics.com.
“I still can’t forget what I did and how it felt, even now. Every time I think about it, it keeps me going. It pushes me to do more. I don’t want to do it again like that.”
Retribution is in the mind of Yulo in this year’s world competition as he sees action in Day 2 of the men’s qualifications Wednesday under the subdivision 7 with gymnasts from Italy, Croatia, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Finland and Denmark.
Four other groups are also competing Wednesday after the first two groups performed in Day 1 Tuesday.
The all-around final will be on Friday. Medal rounds in the floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings will be on Saturday, while finals in vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar will be on Sunday.
“I feel all of this competition will be revenge, all of it,” Yulo said.
“This is like the Olympics. Every competition, big or small, I’m going to treat like it’s the Olympics.”
Aside from the floor exercise where he will defend his title, Yulo also eyes the gold medal in vault and possibly, parallel bars.
“My specialties are floor exercise and vault. I’m getting good at parallel bars, I think I can say that, but I think it’s not enough if you compare me to the world class gymnasts,” Yulo said.
“But I believe in myself that I can do that someday.”