yuloyutuCarlos Yulo is looking to reclaim his dominance in the floor exercise at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships when he competes in the finals on Friday, Oct. 24, in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Paris Olympics double gold medalist last ruled the floor in the 2019 Stuttgart edition before narrowly missing the podium in the succeeding worlds. He finished fifth in Kitakyushu (2021), seventh in Liverpool (2022), and fourth in Antwerp (2023).
Yulo’s strong performance in Sunday’s qualifications shows he is in top form once again.
“The qualifying results of Carlos were pretty encouraging, so we hope and pray he can match his golden double in the Paris Olympics,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) President Cynthia Carrion, referring to Yulo’s historic victories in the floor exercise and vault in Paris.
The 25-year-old Filipino star also qualified for the finals of both apparatuses in this year’s world championships.
Winning a second world title in the floor exercise, however, will be a tough challenge. Leading the finalists is Jake Jarman, a British gymnast of Filipino descent who topped the qualifications with 14.700 points. Yulo followed closely with 14.566.
Other contenders for the podium include Pan American Games silver medalist Kameron Nelson of the United States, 2023 bronze medalist Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan, two-time world silver medalist Kazuki Minami of Japan, European Championships multi-medalist Krisztofer Meszaros of Hungary, two-time European champion Luke Whitehouse of Great Britain, and Tikumporn Surintornta—Thailand’s first-ever finalist in an apparatus event at the world championships.
Listed as reserves are Lorian Langenegger of Switzerland, Ryu Sunghyun of South Korea, and Kevin Penev of Bulgaria.
Apart from the floor exercise, Yulo will also compete in the vault finals on Saturday, Oct. 25, where he hopes to replicate his 2021 world title win.
He topped the vault qualifications with 14.750 points but is expected to face stiff competition from 2022 champion Artur Davtyan of Armenia, who ranked second with 14.566.
Other vault finalists include 2023 bronze medalist Nazar Chepurnyi of Kazakhstan, Russian champions Daniel Marinov and Mukhammadzhon Iakubov, junior world champion Tommaso Brugnami of Italy, China’s Huang Mingqi, and Japan’s Kazuki Minami.
Carlos Yulo eyes another floor exercise gold at worlds
