By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Karl Eldrew Yulo came close to winning his second bronze but was edged out by British Evan McPhillips in vault finals of the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships at the Newport World Resorts in Pasay City on Monday, Nov. 24.
Fresh from his breakthrough bronze-medal performance in the floor exercise the day before, the 17-year-old teen sensation pushed through despite a slight right ankle injury he sustained during Saturday’s all-around final and delivered two strong vaults for a total score of 13.716.
But in the end and to the disappointment of Team PH, McPhillips turned in 13.950 to clinch the bronze.
Russian Arsenii Dukhno continued to dominate the field after clinching the gold medal with 14.333, Sol Scott – another while British standout – took the silver in 14.066.
Had Yulo matched his qualifying score of 13.750, he could have finished third.
He started his two vaults with a 4.800-level of difficulty — lowest of them all as the rest started at 5.200 — but scored 9.133 on his first, and 8.700 on his second.
It was Dukhno’s second gold medal after ruling the all-around.
Yulo, however, is not done yet as he was still vying in the horizontal bar final at presstime.
He was the sixth-best qualifier with a score of 13.700 behind top qualifiers Danila Leykin of the United States (14.466), and French bets Nael Sakouhi (14.066) and Leeroy Traore-Malatre (14.066).
