Eldrew Yulo cops floor exercise bronze at gymnastics junior worlds

Eldrew Yulo

(Gymnastics Association of the Philippines via Facebook)

MANILA, Philippines — Hometown hero Eldrew Yulo twisted and turned his way to a bronze medal in the floor exercise final of the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships.

Yulo bagged his first medal in the event with a graceful performance in front of the home crowd at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City.

Performing second in the start list, the 17-year-old gymnast tallied a total of 13.733 on 8.433 execution score and 5.300 difficulty.

Later, Yulo was dislodged from the top spot by China’s Yang Lanbin, who took home the gold with a score of 13.833.

Simone Speranza of Italy then pushed Yulo to the third rank with a score of 13.766.

Yulo held on to that podium spot with other gymnasts taking their turn. But Russia’s Arsenii Dukhno, who finished on top of the field in the men’s qualifications ahead of the second-seeded Filipino, performed last.

And while Dukhno, the individual all-around gold medalist, had an impressive showing, he did not have a clean landing on one of his jumps, which led to a penalty of -0.1.

He finished fourth with a score of 13.633.

After Dukhno’s score was announced, an emotional Yulo was seen hugging his coach, Munehiro Kugiyama, as they celebrated.

Yulo, who finished eighth in the all-around event on Friday, will try to bag more medals as he competes in the men’s vault and horizontal bar finals on Monday.