Gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo takes silver in World Cup

MANILA, Philippines — Carlos Edriel Yulo continued to make his mark in international competitions as he pocketed the silver medal in the vault competition of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Sunday at National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Showing his top form against seasoned rivals, the 18-year-old Yulo scored 14.183 in the finals to take runner-up honors behind Belarusian Pavel Bulavsky, who carded a winning 14.283.

Yulo finished ahead of Georgian Konstantin Kozovkov who logged a third-best 14.131

Reyland Capellan, the Pinoy vault bronze medalist in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, fell short of a podium finish, ending up fifth with his 14.116 effort.

Earlier, Yulo ranked No. 2 after the qualification round with 14.183 while Capellan was at sixth with 13.966.

Yulo also competed in the parallel beam and floor exercises but couldn’t break through to the finals after finishing 11th (13.500) and 18th (13.200), respectively, in the said events’ qualifiers. Compatriot Matthew Vergara also vied in the floor but wound up 29th with 11.533.

Yulo achieved the feat in Baku a month after netting a bronze in the FIG Apparatus World Cup’s leg in Melbourne, Australia, continuing his string of impressive outings highlighted by a gold (parallel beam) in the Asian juniors’ tilt in 2017 and four medals, including gold in rings, in the Voronin Cup in Russia in 2016.

“He (Yulo) is doing so well as he steps forward to the 2020 Olympics. We’re hoping that in 2020 he’ll be ready for the gold,” said Gymnastics Association of the Philippines chief Cynthia Carrion.