Carlos Yulo boosts Olympic preps with bronze in Japan gymnastics tilt

Filipino artistic gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo gave a preview of his upcoming Olympic form after he bagged a podium finish in Parallel Bars at the All Japan Apparatus Final last Tuesday, June 8.

The 21-year-old gymnast bagged the bronze medal after landing at third place with a score of 14.966.

He finished behind Yusuke Tanaka who topped the tournament with 15.400 and Kaito Sugimoto, who settled for silver after getting the same score.

“Being able to play with the bests is already an achievement for me. It was a pretty good performance but unfortunately, I didn't reach my personal target score,” Yulo said in his Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Carlos Edriel Yulo (@c_edrielzxs)

“I'll definitely be using this experience to improve on my skills for future events," he added.

The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines commended Yulo for his achievement.

"Great performance, Caloy! We can't wait to see you defy gravity in the Olympics," the national association said in a Facebook post.

Top-tier gymnast
Yulo made history in the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Stuttgart, Germany when he won gold in the floor exercises, marking the first time that a Filipino has won a world championship in gymnastics.

The Manila-born athlete returned to the Philippines in 2019 to compete in the Southeast Asian Games, where he won gold in the floor exercises and the all-around. He also won silver in the pommel horse, still rings, vault, horizontal bar, and parallel bar.

In December 2020, Yulo snared two bronze medals in the All-Japan Gymnastics championship. He secured podium finishes in the floor and vault events and placed 8th overall in the all-around department with a total score of 170.032 points.

Yulo is one of the ten Filipino athletes who have already secured their slot in the upcoming Tokyo Games.