Caloy Yulo misses out on medal in tight men's vault final

Only a deduction cost Yulo an Olympic medal. Jade Moya (file photo)

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Caloy Yulo was just one clean jump away from taking a medal in the men's artistic gymnastic vault final of the Tokyo Olympics after finishing strong in his stint on Monday night at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in the Japanese capital.

Yulo had the best stunt among the eight finalists in the last of their two jumps for the event, getting 14.866 points.

But it was his first jump that kept him from at least the bronze.

Yulo, who performed last in order, had a decent opening jump, but he had one foot stepped outside the cushion while trying to secure his landing, giving him a 0.1-point deduction.

Following the demerit, Yulo got 14.566 points in Jump 1.

He finished with an average of 14.716 points, just a shade under eventual third placer Artur Davtyan of Armenia.

Davtyan, who was the fourth to perform, had a crucial error as well, getting a 0.1-point deduction of his own in his second jump, dropping him down to 14.666 points.

Davtyan's cleaner initial jump, which earned him 14.8, turned out to be enough for him to take the bronze as he finished with a 14.733 average, just above Yulo.

Yulo ended up tied in fourth place with Russia's Nikita Nagornyy.

Even the race for the gold was a tight one as South Korea's Shin Jeah-Wan won it all through the tiebreaker.

Shin got deducted too in his first jump and ended up with 14.733 points.

He would jump better in his second try and scored 14.833 for an average of 14.783.

Shin ended up tied with Russia's Denis Abliazin for first place as he too scored 14.783 points in average, but Abliazin settled for the silver as he only got 14.8 in his second jump, slightly better than his 14.766-point first attempt.

The second jump score serves as the first tiebreaker rule, giving Shin the nod.

Using the same tiebreaker, Yulo would formally clinch fourth place from Nagornyy, who struggled in his second jump and only scored 14.6 against 14.833 in his first performance.

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