Eldrew to go all out for Cairo glory

Karl Eldrew Yulo guns for another gold medal as he competes in the final of the men’s floor exercise event in the Cairo leg of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Yulo will once again try to prove that he belongs in the senior level as he battles seven other gymnasts in the medal round just like he did in the Antalya leg in Turkey last March.

With a score of 13.900 points, the younger brother of double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo made another finals appearance as he finished fifth despite competing in the seniors division just last February.

He is looking to advance to the finals of other apparatuses in the second day of competition at press time.

But clinching another gold medal will be easier said than done for Yulo, who is seeing action in his third World Cup Series leg.

Arsenii Dukhno of Russia, who ruled the 2025 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships individual all-around and vault events, will challenge the Filipino youngster after topping the preliminary round with a score of 14.533.

Camilo Vera of Colombia, a junior world champion in parallel bars and horizontal bar in Manila last year, is also expected to come up with a serious threat to Yulo as he finished second with 14.133 while Russian Daniel Marinov, who scored 14.000, finished third.

Also expected to figure prominently are Sebastian Spovemik of Norway, who scored 13.933 to finish fourth, as well as Rayderley Zapata of Spain, who ended the preliminaries with 13.800 to emerge sixth, Li Hongyan of China, who posted 13.733 to finish seventh, and Altynkhan Temirbek of Kazakhstan, who registered 13.600 to finish eighth.

Yulo is using the World Cup Series to acclimatize against older, more skillful gymnasts while also pulling off near-perfect routines.

“Actually, we were just thinking the same thing. We need to be clean and execute our routines well, no injuries and just be safe,” Yulo said.

“It’s a bit nerve-wracking because I’m still a newbie at the senior level. It’s a bit exciting at the same time.”

After Cairo, Yulo still has the Osijek leg in Croatia from 9 to 12 April to polish his routines and get ready for the major tournaments of the year.

Yulo is expected to join his older brother in the 13th Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Senior Asian Championships in Zunyi, China from 18 to 21 June and the 19th Asian Games in Japan from 19 September to 4 October.

Aside from that, he has a good chance to see action in the 54th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands from 10 to 17 October.