Redeemed
Carlos Yulo had already become an Olympic and world champion, but one major medal was still missing from his collection.
He finally claimed it on Thursday, winning the men’s floor exercise at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with a dramatic victory that underscored his ability to turn an old disappointment into a career milestone.
“I’m so happy with this result,” the Filipino star said.
Yulo scored 14.666 points to edge Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi, who finished with 14.600. Japan’s Shoma Tsukiyama took bronze with 14.566.
Only 0.066 separated Yulo from silver, and just one-tenth of a point covered the top three.
“It was truly a close match, and it was only execution and landings that decided [the contest],” Yulo said.
That was precisely where the two-time Olympic gold medalist made the difference.
Yulo carried a 5.7 difficulty score but earned 8.966 for execution, delivering clean enough landings to withstand Karimi’s challenge and secure his first Asian Games medal.
He had wanted to perform a routine with 6.0 difficulty but did not need it.
No regrets
“It was a good performance and no regrets at all even though I wasn’t able to do my 6.0 routine, which I really wanted,” Yulo told journalists after the event. “In my second pass, my kick was a bit strong, and I knew that if I pushed it, I would overdo the routine.”
“I recovered [and did] what I needed to do, good execution, and I feel like this was my best performance today. ”
It was the first gold medal for the country in this edition of the continental showcase and the first gymnastics medal won by the Philippines in Asian Games history.
It also proved Yulo’s resilience and his ability to bounce back from past heartaches.
At Jakarta in 2018, an 18-year-old Yulo reached the floor final after leading qualification but struggled with his landings and finished seventh with 13.500.
“For me, [what happened now] is like [what happened in] the Olympics. This is my first medal in the Asian Games,” Yulo said. “This is my second Asian Games … and I messed up [the first time] but I redeemed myself here.”
At the Tokyo Olympics, he left without a medal, finishing fourth in vault after failing to advance to the floor final, where he was a favorite owing to his world championship victory just years earlier.
Three years later in Paris, he transformed that disappointment into history by winning Olympic gold in both floor exercise and vault.
Nagoya closed another unfinished chapter.
“I’m overwhelmed and I can’t believe this result happened,” Yulo said in an interview with local broadcaster One Sports. “The judges were strict today, and it felt like we were competing on the world stage.”
The title added Asian Games gold to a career that already includes championships at the Olympics, world championships, Asian championships and Southeast Asian Games.
It also came after Yulo had topped floor qualification with 14.600.
His younger brother Karl Eldrew Yulo also reached the eight-man final and placed seventh with 12.233.
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