Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Yulo fails to defend his vault title in the 12th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Sunday in Jecheon, Korea.  Photo by PAUL ELLIS/Agence France-Presse
SPORTS

Dethroned: Yulo falls short in vault, parallel bars

Despite failing to defend his gold medal, Eldrew continued his medal streak in the annual competition after clinching the silver in 2023 in Singapore and 2024 in Tashkent.

Ivan Suing

Paris Olympics double gold medalist Carlos Yulo saw his titles in the vault and parallel bars get taken away after placing third on both events Sunday to end his campaign in the 12th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea.

The 25-year-old Yulo clinched the bronze medal after earning a score of 14.533 points in his first attempt and 14.133 in his second try for an average of 14.333.

Mahdi Olfati of Iran emerged as Asia’s new vault king after posting an average of 14.500 while Huang Mingqi of China scored 14.400 for the silver.

Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist John Ivan Cruz finished in sixth place with an average of 14.150.

In the parallel bars, Yulo posted 14.166 as he was dethroned by Asian individual all-around champion Shinnosuke Oka of Japan.

Oka scored 14.700 for the gold while his teammate Tsunogai Tomoharu tallied 14.466 for the silver.

Yulo tried to add another medal in the horizontal bar but finished in seventh place with a score of 12.000.

The 25-year-old gymnast finished the tournament with a total of four medals in his first competition since the Paris Olympics last year.

Yulo clinched the bronze medal in the individual all-around last Thursday and grabbed his fourth straight gold in the floor exercise last Saturday.

While the gymnast from Leveriza, Manila wasn’t able to reenact last year’s haul of four gold medals, he still has more competitions to expect for the rest of the year.

First, Yulo will compete in the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta from 19 to 25 October as he looks to redeem himself after an empty-handed campaign in the 2023 edition in Antwerp.

Then, there will be the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand from 9 to 20 December as he is set to crush the opposition there.

Meanwhile, Karl Eldrew Yulo settled for a silver in the vault at the 18th Junior Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships after scoring 13.850.

Despite failing to defend his gold medal, Eldrew continued his medal streak in the annual competition after clinching the silver in 2023 in Singapore and 2024 in Tashkent.

Home bet Bak Jun-woo struck gold with an average of 13.933 and Korean gymnast An Dae-geon clinched bronze with an average of 13.783.