Carlos Yulo of the Philippines executes his routine for the floor exercise during the SEA Games Men’s artistic apparatus final on December at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on December 3, 2019. Czar Dancel, ABS-CBN News/File.
(UPDATED) Filipino gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo has secured a ticket to the Paris Olympics after an impressive comeback in the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships at the Sportspalais in Antwerp, Belgium on Sunday (Manila time).
After faltering on Day 1 of the event following a disastrous performance in the vault, Yulo came out as the highest-ranked eligible athlete in the floor exercise, which is his pet event.
The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) announced Yulo's achievement on its Facebook account on Sunday night.
He finished third in the men's floor exercise with 14.600 points after Artem Dolgopyat of Israel (15.100) and Frederick Richard of the US (14.600). But since Dolgyopat and Richard were already qualified to the Olympics prior to the Worlds, Yulo came in as the next eligible participant.
Earlier, Yulo garnered 14.600 points from the preliminaries of the floor exercise, positioning himself for the final.
His qualification more than made up for his errant fall in the vault, which resulted to 0 point.
Yulo joined EJ Obiena among Filipinos who already secured berths in the 2023 Paris Olympics.
He skipped the 19th Asian Games to compete in the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, which is a qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics.