Carlos Yulo is now a double Olympic gold medalist and a living legend.

A day after ruling the floor exercise in gymnastics for the Philippines’ first gold in the Paris Olympics, Yulo added the vault to his vast and growing collection late Sunday at the Bercy Stadium.

Yulo propelled his way to a total score of 15.116 and the gold medal, sending the vault’s main man Artur Davtyan settling for silver with a score of 14.966.

Harry Hepworth of Great Britain pocketed the bronze with a score of 14.949.

Yulo was the fourth to perform in the cast of eight top vaulters and after the first three registered close scores, the 24-year-old Filipino issued a strong statement with a total of 15.116 from his first jump of 15.433 (Ri Se Gwang) and second of 14.880 (Kasamatsu double twist).

“I just wish that I would be safe (while doing my routine). I was relaxed because I had nothing to lose. This experience was crazy,” Yulo told the media in Paris following the awarding ceremony.

It was a landmark win for Yulo, who had lost to the seasoned Davtyan in the vault in the 2022 world championships in Liverpool, England.

This time, there was no stopping Yulo from getting back at the 31-year-old Davtyan, who was bronze medalist in Tokyo, where Yulo fared miserably.

As Yulo runs away with his second gold, the riches he stands to receive when he gets back home should make his bank account fatter.

Under the law, an Olympic gold has a corresponding reward of P10-million. And since Yulo has snatched two, the amount will likely be doubled.

Condos await

Earlier, Megaworld pledged a condominium unit at BGC worth P24 million for every gold won in Paris.

The House of Representatives also promised to award him P3 million following his first gold, and the amount could hit double after his vault exploit.

Given that he will be bringing home two gold medals, Yulo should be getting two units from the real estate company.

The second Yulo gold now makes the country’s campaign in Paris as the Philippines’ finest ever, even better than the 1-2-1 haul in Tokyo three years ago behind weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz’s gold and the two silvers and bronze produced by boxing.

The current collection of two could go up to as high as five or possibly more in the coming days with boxing sending two in the medal round and athletics pinning its hopes on EJ Obiena.

World No. 2 Obiena is still in the thick of the fight after making the final scheduled Tuesday.

“Answered prayers… We already broke the record in the Olympics,” said Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino, who was in attendance during Yulo’s epic showing.

Since making its Olympic debut in 1924 in Paris, the Philippines now has logged a total of 3-5-8 (gold-silver-bronze).

In the boxing ring, Nesthy Petecio followed Aira Villegas into the semifinals after coasting to a 5-0 decision over Xu Zinchu.

In the opening canto, Xu used his height advantage and longer reach to the max but the Filipino still took the round even though she got hit with a perfectly-timed hook from the fleet-footed Xu.

Petecio also won the second even though she wasn’t as busy as the Chinese, but she was credited with connecting with the cleaner and heavier blows.

Sensing that she was way behind the scorecards, Xu decided to go for broke and pressed on the attack in the third round, but Petecio wisely eluded most of her rival’s desperation shots.

Guns for finals

“Like what I have been saying, we won’t stop until we get the gold,” Petecio said in Filipino after her dominant win with her early exit in last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou serving as motivation.

“The coaching staff had to make changes in our training and without them, we wouldn’t have done this,” she added.

Petecio, a native of Davao del Sur, barrelled her way into the quarterfinal after slipping past French bet Amani Zidani, 4-1, in a highly-charged bout last Friday.

She goes after a final berth on Thursday (Philippine time) against Poland’s Julia Szeremeta, who easily outpointed Ashleyann Lozada of Puerto Rico in the other pairing in their bracket.

Earlier in the day at Stade de France, Spanish-born hurdler John Cabang saw himself get relegated to the repechage after finishing sixth in Heat 1 of the men’s 110-meters.

He clocked 13.66 seconds and wound up sixth and 32nd overall in the 40-man field.

There is a slim chance for the 22-year-old Cabang to make the semifinal when he vies during Tuesday’s repechage.

Hansle of Parchment of Jamaica made the cut for the semifinal after clocking in 13.43 seconds

Only the top three finishers per heat and the next three fastest times will advance to the semifinal round with the rest of the hurdles getting relegated to the repechage.

Track letdown

Later, Filipino-American Laura Hoffman ate dust in her quest to make the next round of the 400 hurdles.

She did 57.84 seconds and will have one more chance to make the semifinal as she attempts to ramp it up in the repechage.

Hoffman finished 37th overall and will need to crank it up Monday to advance.

The last time the Filipinos had a track athlete in the semifinal round was when hurdler Eric Cray competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

Cray, an eight-time Southeast Asian Games champion, clocked in 49.05 seconds in the qualifying heats to make it to the next round where he finished 17th overall in the competition.

Villegas made the semis following a points victory over Wassila Lkhadiri, also of host France.

She guns for at least a silver medal on Wednesday.

Going into the final week of the Summer Games, the Philippines remains in the medal hunt with Villegas still very much alive and the three-member weightlifting squad plunging into action on Wednesday.

Women’s golf also gets off the ground with Bianca Pagdanganan and Dottie Ardina leading the charge.