NAGOYA — Carlos Yulo is headed to three finals at the Asian Games. The double Olympic gold medalist got there despite falls on the vault and horizontal bar.

He topped the floor exercise qualifiers with a 14.600, built on a 5.7 difficulty score and an 8.900 for execution. He also advanced in the parallel bars, ranking sixth with 14.266 points.

He locked up a vault final berth too, despite failing to land his first attempt and hitting the mat during qualifying. It capped a rocky push through the 20th Asian Games men’s artistic gymnastics qualification round.

Carlos Yulo Qualification Recap

Yulo didn’t sugarcoat it. “Sobrang challenging today. Hindi ito yung in-expect ko na preparation ko. Hindi siya lumabas talaga today,” he told POC Media — saying the day was extremely challenging and didn’t go the way he’d expected.

His pommel horse routine went well, he said. But he still couldn’t shake what happened on the vault.

He broke down the fall in more detail. “Hindi yun yung tamang pag-grab and nung nalaglag ako, I was really disappointed but at the same time thankful and grateful na safe ako kanina,” he said.

He explained that it wasn’t the right grab. While the fall left him disappointed, he was thankful and grateful to walk away safe, since a mistake like that could end a gymnast’s career.

Yulo also went down on the high bar, on a skill he hadn’t attempted in years. “After how many years po kasi, tinigil ko yung skill na yun. And then binalik ko siya ulit just to challenge yung sarili ko,” he explained.

He said he’d brought the skill back specifically to push himself. It let him see things from a different angle, he added.

Setbacks aside, Yulo stayed grateful. “It’s just really trial and error pa din. And at the end of the day I still did what’s the best that I could do,” he shared. He finished 10th in the individual all-around with 75.465 points.

Yulo Brothers Both Reach Finals

Little brother Karl Eldrew Yulo punched his own ticket to the finals too. He qualified for the floor exercise final in fourth place with a 13.966.

In the horizontal bar, Eldrew placed ninth with 13.433 points but still advanced, since only two gymnasts per National Olympic Committee can qualify per apparatus final. He finished eighth in the individual all-around with 77.264 points.

That mark edged out his older brother’s all-around finish. Eldrew was quick to praise the team’s showing despite his own mixed results.

He shared the sentiment with POC Media. “Nafe-feel ko po is grateful dahil lahat kami is safe and of course super proud din ako sa nangyari kanina,” he said — meaning he felt grateful everyone stayed safe and proud of what the team pulled off.

He owned up to missed chances on the pommel horse, rings and parallel bars. He added that he tries to “change mood” with every apparatus switch to tap into different energy.

Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Miguel Besana also advanced to a final, finishing fourth in the vault qualification with 13.933 points. Team Philippines rounded out the team event in sixth place, with a combined score of 232.093 points.