Caloy Yulo bounces back, takes gold in FIG vault final

A new world title for Caloy Yulo. Jade Moya (file photo)
By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--He may have given up the floor exercise title, but Caloy Yulo will still be leaving the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championship as a champ.

Yulo became the new king of the vault on Sunday after his near-flawless routines in the final in Kitakyushu, Japan won him the gold.

Yulo, who came close to snatching a medal in the Tokyo Olympics vault final last July, scored an average of 14.916 points, enough to rule the eight-man field and take home the championship.

In his first vault, he went for a Kasamatsu routine, which earned him a 14.8.

He then performed a Dragulescu routine on his second try, which he landed almost perfectly, meriting him a 15.033 for the aforementioned average.

Hidenobu Yonekura of Japan took home the silver after averaging 14.866 points in his two jumps, while Andrey Medvedev of Israel won the bronze with an average of 14.649.

Ukraine's Nazar Cherpunyi, who topped the qualifying phase on Wednesday, made a huge threat to Yulo's bid as his first attempt gave him a 14.866.

However, he failed to land properly on his own Kasamatsu stunt and settled for a 13.433 in his second vault for the average of 14.149, dropping him to seventh.

Yonekura actually had the best first vault after scoring a flat 15 there, but his second try was only good for 14.733 and eventually settled for the silver.

Yulo's day is not yet done as he will compete in the parallel bars final scheduled for a 5 p.m. (Philippine Time) start.

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