Carlos Yulo just can’t stop making us proud, can he?
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Carlos Yulo has undoubtedly been one of this generation’s greatest inspirations as he consistently brings honor to the Philippines in the world of gymnastics. Even amidst the challenges of training away from home, issues beleaguering our local sports, and at times, the immense pressure of single-handedly representing the country in international competitions, the pocket-sized phenom has leapt, swung, and backflipped his way to glory.
This is the reason why Carlos Yulo is one of NYLON Manila’s nominees in the Inspiring Personality category; precisely because of his success, resilience and humility. And just recently, the decorated athlete has once again given us more reasons to get incredibly proud and awe-inspired as he reaped golds anew in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series.
A VICTORIOUS MEDAL HAUL
Carlos Yulo’s journey in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup circuit has been nothing short of breathtaking and heartening to witness. In the three legs of the four-part series of competitions so far, the twenty-three year old Olympian has crafted quite an inspiring and impressive performance where even when he stumbles from time to time, he inevitably stands back up and triumphs.
The series began last February in Cottbus, Germany, where Carlos Yulo was off to a humble start. He failed to qualify for the floor exercise apparatus, where he’s considered to be the strongest competitor in, ranking 20th in the qualifications. The same with the vault apparatus, where he’s once the world champion, placing 12th while his teammate Juancho Miguel Besana at the 8th spot. Yet Carlos kept his head up, as he’s always done, ruling the parallel bars qualifiers and eventually settling for bronze during the finals on February 26, 2023.
Carlos Yulo’s well-deserved redemption happened just earlier this month in the Doha leg of the series. He regained his status of the king of the floor exercise, getting the highest difficulty and execution scores. Meanwhile, he also improved his placement on the parallel bars with a silver medal finish garnering an average score of 14.933 just behind the 14.966 set by Ukraine’s Ilia Kovtun. As if these victories weren’t enough, Carlos Yulo was able to add another bronze medal for his vault performance.
And just over the weekend, the two-time world champion continued his winning momentum in Baku, Azerbaijan. On March 11, Carlos Yulo reigned supreme at the parallel bars with a whopping 15.400 score, this time finally getting that gold and breaking Kovtun’s winning streak in the apparatus. The next day after this, he then dominated the vault clinching another gold in the series. All in all, the Pinoy champ raked in three gold, a silver, and two bronze medals.
AN INSPIRING ROLE MODEL
Truly, Carlos Yulo’s Word Cup stint has been a resounding success so far. And last Tuesday, March 15, 2023, the Filipino pride made his comeback to the country to take a break and prepare for his next competition. But apart from that, Carlos Yulo is also set to speak to a hundred young Filipino gymnastics aspirants, who want to follow in his golden footsteps.
“He came home for our March 17 opening where he will serve as an inspiration to young kids wanting to take up gymnastics,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines Carrion Norton in an interview, referring to the launch of GAP’s grassroots development program at Yulo’s former training ground at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex’s Gymnastics Hall in Malate, Manila.
Paris in his sights 👀
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) March 9, 2023
Fan favourite gymnast Carlos Yulo 🇵🇭 has sacrificed much in his quest for Olympic gold, including leaving his home in the Philippines to train with Japan’s best.@c_edrielzxs | @gymnastics
Surely, the three-time Asian champion and seven-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist will ignite the fire within these young Filipinos who want to proudly represent the Philippine flag in gymnastics. Carlos Yulo will be home for almost two weeks before going back to training for the World Cup series’ final leg in Cairo, Egypt, which will run from April 27 to April 30, 2023.
The 2023 FIG World Cup series is a qualifier for the apparatus events in the 2023 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, in September. While the 2023 championships, on the other hand, will offer gymnasts slots to the 2024 Paris Olympics. And by the looks of his performance, yes, we’re already manifesting Carlos Yulo competing in multiple apparatuses in Paris.
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