Drawing strong performances across three events, Karl Eldrew Yulo advanced to the finals in the floor exercise, vault, and horizontal bar, ultimately finishing 15th overall in the men’s individual all-around standings of the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Championships late Thursday night.
In front of a hometown crowd at the Manila Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom inside Newport World Resorts in Pasay City, whose eyes were fixed on him, 17-year-old Yulo put on a stunning display in the floor exercise reminiscent of his older brother Carlos, the 2019 world champion in the event.
He scored 14.233 points to place second behind AIN athlete Arsenii Dukhno, who led the qualifiers with 14.500 points, then followed it up with a fifth-place finish in the vault, posting an average of 13.750 points across two attempts.
With his entire family in full support — led by older brother Carlos, father Mark, and mother Angelica — Eldrew booked his third apparatus finals in the horizontal bar, placing fifth with 13.70 points.
He looked poised to secure a fourth finals berth in the parallel bars but suffered a bad dismount, falling on his butt and incurring a 1.434-point penalty. That dropped him to 28th place with 12.666 points in the meet sponsored by the Office of the President, Philippine Sports Commission, and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
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Combined with his scores in the pommel horse (11.333, 58th place) and rings (12.20, 27th), Yulo totaled 78.332 points to finish 15th in the individual all-around standings and qualify for the finals of the grueling event scheduled today, Saturday.
Adding the all-around scores of Batang Pinoy National Championships standouts CJ Pernia (64.40) and Hilarion Palles III (60.831) — who had barely two weeks of training — the host squad placed 24th with 143.962 points out of 36 entries in the meet, also supported by Newport World Resorts and Milo.
Scheduled to compete late Friday night was the PH girls squad, composed of Elisabeth Antone, Sabina Tayag, Maxine Bondoc, and Jellian Bantilan, in the tournament organized by the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines and sanctioned by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).
“Natupad yun aking wish, but my job is still not finished. So gagalingan ko pa at give my 100-percent in all the finals I am entered,” said Yulo after fulfilling his targets in the all-around qualifiers.
The budding gymnastics star was moved that his entire family — including eldest Joriel, Carlos, and youngest Aiza — were there to provide him a much-needed morale boost.
“Unang-una sa lahat nagpapasalamat ako kay Lord na binigyan Niya ako ng ganitong blessing. At tulad ng ginawa ng whole family ko kay Kuya Caloy sa 2019 SEA Games, ngayon naman ako naman ang sinuportahan nila,” he added.
