 |
| Carlos Yulo has three chances to give the Philippines its second Olympic gold all-time. USA Today Sports |
MANILA--Carlos Yulo qualified for three finals in the Paris Olympics men's artistic gymnastics event at the end of the preliminary round for the all-around category at the Accor Arena in Paris.
After the third subdivision early Sunday (Philippine Time), Yulo, tagged as the likeliest to make a podium finish this year and give the Philippines its second-ever Olympic gold, finished eighth in the all-around category, well within the Top 24 cut-off for the medal round, garnering a total of 83.631 points.
As expected, Yulo would qualify for the finals of his pet event, the floor exercise, finishing second in the preliminary round with 14.766 points, just 0.2 behind British-Filipino gymnast Jake Jarman, who will be the top seed.
Yulo, who nearly won a Tokyo Olympics medal in the vault in 2021, got a second chance in the apparatus as he finished sixth in the preliminary round with 14.683 points.
He struggled, though, in the parallel bars, another apparatus that could have landed him at the podium, finishing 19th with 14.533 points.
Only the top eight finishers per apparatus will enter the finals with a limit of two gymnasts per country.
While Yulo can steal the show from Jarman, whose mother hails from Cebu, in the floor finals, the 24-year-old wunderkind might need to give four other Asian gymnasts a challenge to make the all-around podium.
China's Zhang Boheng is the top seed in the all-around entering the final round after amassing 88.597 points, while the Japanese duo of Shinnosuke Oka and Daiki Hashimoto are second and third with 86.865 and 85.064 points, respectively.
Another Chinese gymnast, Xiao Ruoteng, is fourth with 84.898 points.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
.jpg)
