Carlos Yulo displayed his versatility and finished eighth place in the all-around final of the 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool, England Friday, Nov. 4 (early Saturday in Manila).
The 22-year-old Yulo leaned on his floor exercise and parallel bars routines to finish with 82.098 points behind reigning Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto, who amassed an impressive 87.198 to capture the gold medal.
China’s Zhang Boheng (86.765) and Japan’s Wataru Tanigawa (85.231) bagged the silver and bronze, respectively.
“I am speechless after the six events because I am battling with myself. It was really hard,” said Yulo, who finished 10th in the 2019 edition and 23rd in 2018.
“Overall, the experience was really good. I am in the top eight, it’s not bad and is still a big achievement for me. I am happy but at the same time I am disappointed.”
Yulo, who finished a strong third in Monday’s qualifiers, started strong by topping the floor exercise with 15.166.
He slightly improved in pommel horse but still fell at 19th out of 24 qualifiers with 11.900, while finishing sixth in still rings (13.800).
He struggled with his new routine in vault by finishing 15th with 14.166 but returned with a flawless performance in parallel bars, where he surprisingly ruled the field with 15.166.
He capped off the event with a 22nd place finish in high bar (11.900).
“Floor was good. Pommel horse and high bar, I really need to fix. Vault is not bad. Nice try. Parallel bars was okay, casual,” said Yulo.
“Today, I was just having fun and I don’t want to lose myself in the middle of the competition. But I kind of did, and it’s kind of my fault as well. I put more pressure on myself.”
Yulo continues his search for gold medals when he competes in the floor exercise Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. PH time), as well as in vault and parallel bars on Sunday, Nov. 6 also at 1:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. PH time).