FILIPINO gymnastics’ star Carlos “Caloy” Yulo looked amazing as he impressed the judges in the men’s qualifying events of the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Monday evening (Tuesday morning in Manila) in Liverpool.
But did you know that he was extremely frightened doing his routine in one of his favorite events – the vault, where he is reigning champion?
“Vault is really scary. That’s my first time doing the Ri Se Gwang — handspring on, pike off — so that’s really big for me,” said the 22-year-old Yulo.
The 4’11” Yulo posted a score of 14.849 on the vault to qualify, after using a variant of the Ri Se Gwang move, which consists of a front handspring double-piked salto with a half twist.
“There are still areas that aren’t perfect. Every movement still has a deduction but I’ll try my best. My goal is to show my gymnastics to the world,” said Yulo.
Yulo was flawless in the floor exercise with a tournament-leading score of 15. 266, placed second in the vault and emerged fourth in parallel bars (15.3). His scores in these three events put him at third place and in the finals of the all-around behind Japanese Wataru Tanigawa, who topscored with 84.731 points and Daiki Hashimoto (84.665) – both Tokyo Olympic medalists.
“It gave me confidence to compete in the finals and p-bars, I’m really glad I made it to the finals,” added Yulo.
A fifth finals stint is possible in the rings, where he placed 10th, good for a reserve slot. It was topped by British bet Courtney Tullock, Zhou Jingyuan of China and Adem Asil of Turkey.
“Today, I didn’t lose to myself and I’m really grateful for that,” said Yulo, who bucked pain in his wrists.
“My wrists are painful and I cannot really put 100% in. It happens but it’s all right, there’s nothing to be negative about – just move on. I switched my focus to the things I can still do,” he said.
Yulo then vowed to be better in the finals.
“I’m going to try to beat what I did today. I’m going to be more aggressive, added Yulo, who is coached Japanese Munehiro Kugimiya.