By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
22-year-old Filipino gymnastics sensation Carlos Yulo had his best Southeast Asian Games campaign after wrapping up with five gold medals in his bag.
Entering the men’s horizontal bar category with already four gold medals, the former Tokyo Olympian didn’t disappoint and grabbed the last event to reign supreme in the men’s gymnastics.
Yulo flaunted his skills and newly incorporated aerial exhibitions to score his gold medal performance of 13.867, tying with Vietnamese superstar Dinh Phuong Thanh.
It was an incredible display of acrobatic moves as Yulo flawlessly finished his routine with fewer errors than his silver medal finishes, getting enough nods from the judges to score the highest tally among the other competitors.
During the previous men’s gymnastics events, Yulo dominated the individual all-around, floor exercise, and still rings events to cement his name as one of Southeast Asia’s best gymnasts to ever grace the SEA Games.
Yulo also became the first Filipino to win five gold medals in the 2022 SEA Games edition and is ever-hungry for more success.
This is just the start of Yulo’s highly-sought redemption after the Tokyo Olympics as the star failed to win a single medal in two of the categories he joined.
Yulo only placed fourth during the men’s vault finals with a score of 14.716 and failed to make the grand finals in the floor exercise event after a shocking stumble in his routine.
