Yulo storms back from pommel horse setback, but still misses all-around podium in Paris

MANILA, Philippines -- Almost, but not quite for Carlos Yulo.

After storming back from being dead-last, Yulo fell short of a medal in the men’s all-around gymnastics final of the Paris Olympics early Thursday morning (Manila time).

The reigning Asian all-around champion finished 12th overall with a total score of 83.032.

Japan’s Oka Shinnosuke brought home the gold medal with a total score of 86.832. China’s Zhang Boheng and Xiao Ruoteng grabbed the silver and bronze medals with 86.599 and 86.364, respectively.

The 24-year-old pride of the Philippines had a rough start in the all-around final. After a dazzling performance on the pommel horse, Yulo was about to complete his routine. But he lost his balance toward the end and crashed onto the ground.

This gave Yulo a score of 11.900, the lowest after Rotation 1, which made his medal quest much more difficult.

The many-time Asian champion started to claw back in the succeeding rotations, notching the highest score on the rings in Rotation 2 with 13.933. In spite of this, he was still dead-last.

Yulo had strong performances on the vault (14.766) and the parallel bars (14.500) as he rose to 12th overall with two rotations to go.

In Rotation 5’s horizontal bars, however, he scored just 13.600.

And with his last performance of the night, the floor exercise, the Filipino gymnast upped the difficulty of his routine, capping off the night with a 14.333.

Yulo will still compete for a medal in the men’s floor exercise and men’s vault finals on August 3.