REIGNING world floor exercise champion Carlos Edriel Yulo wilted in the Olympic spotlight on Saturday night, stumbling out of his pet event in the first day of the men’s artistic gymnastics action at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in the Tokyo Olympics.
Needing to score at least 14.766 points to advance to the eight-man finals, Yulo wobbled in his floor exercise routine, winding up with a dismal 13.566 points to make a surprising exit in the event where he was tipped to contend for the gold.
His score was way below his 15.300 points when he won a historic gold in the event in the 49th FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in October 2019 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Apparently still ailing from a hip injury he suffered 14 days ago in practice, Yulo finished 44th overall in the qualifiers, which was ironically led by Israeli veteran Artem Dolgopyat, runner-up to Yulo at the worlds, with a score of 15.200.
World all-around champion Nikita Nagornyi of Russia was running second with 15.066 points while South Korea’s Ryu Sunhyun was in third with the same scorebut was slightly inferior in the execution department to his Russian rival.
Yulo finished the night by placing sixth overall in the vault qualifiers with a score of 14.766 points and will be back in action during the finals of the event on Aug. 2.
It was a disappointing performance for the pint-size gymnast, who also ruled the SEA Games men’s artistic competitions at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in December 2019.
