Carlos and Eldrew Yulo Advance to Five Combined Finals at the Asian Games
Carlos Yulo opened his bid for an elusive Asian Games gold with a shaky qualification round in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday. He still walked away with three apparatus finals to show for it.
The two time Olympic champion advanced to the floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars finals, along with the team event, in the men’s artistic gymnastics competition at the 20th Asian Games. His younger brother, 18 year old Karl Eldrew Yulo, made his Asian Games debut count too, qualifying for two apparatus finals of his own in floor exercise and horizontal bar, plus the team event.
A signature event, a near miss
Carlos topped the floor exercise qualification with 14.600 points, edging South Korea’s Ryu Sung-hyun (14.566) and Japan’s Shoma Tsukiyama (14.166) for the top qualifying spot. Vault told a different story. He missed the landing on his first attempt, then recovered on his second try to finish seventh overall with 13.649. “It didn’t turn out the way I wanted in preparation, but I also learned a lot that I can carry with me in the coming days,” he said in Filipino afterward. He rounded out his day with a third final berth in parallel bars, scoring 14.266 to place sixth.
The rest of the qualification round was rougher. Carlos placed 13th in rings with 13.500, 24th in horizontal bar with 11.700, and 40th in pommel horse with 8.233, the kind of scattered day that comes with competing in all six events.
Eldrew’s debut, and a favor Carlos doesn’t usually ask for
Eldrew placed fourth in the floor exercise with 13.966 and advanced to the horizontal bar final in ninth place with 13.433. Carlos, who is usually the one giving advice, said he leaned on his younger brother’s expertise on an apparatus that isn’t his strength. “I can’t do what he does on the high bar. I ask him about how it feels and about the technique,” Carlos said.
Eldrew also posted the top all-around score for the Philippines, 77.264 points, good for seventh overall and first in their subdivision. Carlos said he was proud of his brother’s showing. China’s Zhang Boheng won the individual all-around title with 85.065 points, ahead of Japan’s Oka Shinnosuke (84.698) and Daiki Hashimoto (83.865).
A full squad, a team still in it
The Philippines wasn’t a two man show. Juancho Miguel Besana, the 2023 SEA Games gold medalist in vault, advanced to the vault final in fourth place with 13.933 points. The full team, rounded out by Justine Ace de Leon and Zachary Nunez, qualified sixth in the team event with 232.093 points and will compete for a medal in the final.
“There’s still the finals, so we still have a chance to win a medal,” Carlos said. An Asian Games gold remains one of the few titles missing from his collection. The men’s team final is set for September 23, the floor exercise final follows on September 24, and the vault, horizontal bar, and parallel bars finals are set for September 25.
