MANILA, Philippines — Caloy Yulo has added the individual all-around as another event where he could win medals in this year’s World Championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The two-time world champion validated this by snaring the silver medal in the all-around in the 9th Senior Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Doha, Qatar last Thursday.
The quintuple Southeast Asian Games gold medalist finished with 83.767 for the silver.
Chinese Shi Cong barely beat Yulo and snatched the gold with an 83.833.
And it could have been a mint for the pocket-sized dynamo from Leveriza, Manila, who led in the first three apparatuses in the first day before being supplanted by Shi in the final three.
As expected, Yulo led all qualifiers in vault where he was world champion a year back in Kitakyushu, Japan with a 14.867 but surprisingly ended only with a 14.367 for sixth in parallel bars where he was a silver winner also in the worlds, a slip that cost him the gold in the all-around.
He was 12th in horizontal bar with a 12.700.
Shi, for his part, was first in horizontal bar (14.133), second in parallel bars (14.867) and 16th in vault (13.533).
The finals in the other events are set today and tomorrow, and expect Yulo to go for gold in vault and parallel bars as well as the floor and rings where took first with a 14.800 and sixth with a 14.100, respectively, last Wednesday.
It was an impressive performance so far in Doha for Yulo, who at 22 may just be nearing his prime as a gymnast.
The World Championships is set in Liverpool in October.