CARLOS Yulo’s redemption tour at the Paris Olympics looks really promising so far.
The Filipino gymnast entered the final rounds of the floor exercise, vault and all-around events early Sunday, July 28 (Manila time).
Yulo performed in subdivision 2 of the men’s artistic gymnastics, where he dazzled the crowd at the Bercy Arena in the qualification round, which ended late Saturday night.
The 24-year-old placed second in floor exercise qualification with 14.766 points, sixth in vault with 14.683 and eighth in all-around with 83.631 points.
The top eight in each apparatus and the top 24 in the all-around event claimed their spots in the medal rounds.
GOLD MEDAL HOPE Carlos Yulo of the Philippines competes during the parallel bars event of the artistic gymnastics men’s qualification match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Bercy Arena in Paris, France, on July 27, 2024. XINHUA PHOTO
When the gymnasts in subdivision 3 finished performing early Sunday, Yulo’s scores were more than enough to make the cut in the contests.
Yulo remained second in floor exercise and sixth in vault, while he only dropped a notch from eighth in the all-around tiff.
That Yulo made it to three medal rounds at the Paris Olympics is already a huge bounce back from his Tokyo Games stint three years ago, when he only made it to one final event, the vault apparatus, where he finished fourth.
He didn’t even make the final of his pet event floor exercise in Tokyo, as a fall during the qualification round took him out of medal contention.
Now, Yulo, a floor exercise world champ in 2019 and a vault world champ in 2021, may take his redemption tour to greater heights as he vies for three medals.
The all-around final takes place first on July 31 at 11:30 p.m. (Manila time), followed by floor exercise on August 3 at 9:30 p.m. and vault on August 4 at 10:24 p.m.
Meanwhile, Yulo could not make the final of the pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and horizontal bar, where he finished 40th (13.066 points), 49th (13.000), 19th (14.533) and 27th (13.466), respectively, in the qualification.
In rowing, Joanie Delgaco will live for another day in her quest for an Olympic medal as she finished first in the repechage round.
The 26-year-old rower checked in at seven minutes and 55 seconds to earn a spot in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles sculls 2,000 m event.
In the first 500 m lap, Delgaco propelled, had a strong start, and timed in at 1:55 minutes.
Vietnam’s Thi Hue Pham finished second, while Yariulvis Cobas Garcia, Evidelia Gonzales Jarquin and Akoko Komlanvi wound up third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Catantan bows out in fencing
Filipino fencer Samantha Catantan did all she could but ultimately yielded to world No. 2 and tournament’s top seed Arianna Errigo of Italy, 15-12, in the women’s individual foil round of 32 at the Grand Palais on Sunday (Manila time).
Catantan, world No. 266 and seeded 33rd in the tiff, battled through her nagging injury and took on the four-time Olympian and 5-foot-11 Errigo, who claimed a bronze in Tokyo three years ago.
The 22-year-old Catantan came back from 0-4 and 5-9 disadvantages and pulled within two, 12-14, but the 36-year-old Errigo had the last laugh as she hit the Filipino for the clincher with 55 seconds left in the third period.
Catantan, who just made her Olympic debut, defeated Brazilian Mariana Pistoia in the round of 64 earlier, 15-13.
WITH A REPORT FROM NICOLE ANNE D.G. BUGAUISAN
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