Eldrew Yulo snares horizontal bar bronze to sweeten junior gymnastics worlds bid

The sensational Karl Eldrew Yulo delivered the performance of his life as he elicited a score of 14.000, including a .100 stick bonus that sealed him the bronze.

Gymnastics Association of the Philippines via Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Karl Eldrew Yulo has carved a name for himself in the gymnastics world.

And he etched it by capturing another bronze medal — this time in men’s horizontal bar — to cap what had been a magical performance in the third FIG Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City on Monday.

The sensational younger sibling of Paris Olympics double gold winner Carlos delivered the performance of his life as he elicited a score of 14.000, including a .100 stick bonus that sealed him the bronze.

And it could have been a silver had Colombian wonder, eighth and last on his turn, not seized the gold from out of nowhere by coming through with a magnificent 14.533.

American Danila Leykin, who appeared on the cusp of copping the mint, was dislodged from the pedestal and settled for the silver with a 14.233.

“I’m so proud of myself because I stuck the landing and this is the most difficult dismount and routine I ever did,” said an ecstatic Yulo. “As a matter fact, I’m the first Filipino gymnast to do a Cassina 1 with full twist and crutch and a triple back dismount.”

It was the second bronze for Yulo, who also copped the same medal in the floor exercise the day before.

Yulo, fighting the pain of a right ankle injury he sustained days before, went for another one in vault and came eerily close from accomplishing it as he was running third after coming through with a 13.716 with two gymnasts to go.

It included Russian Arsenii Dukhno, the individual all-around winner who unleashed a pair of spectacular vaults for a 14.333 average that netted him a second mint while sending the Filipino down to fourth and denying the latter a third bronze.

Great Britain’s Sol Scott and Evan McPhilipps settled for the silver and bronze with a 14.066 and a 13.950, respectively.

It was redemption of sorts for Dukhno, who was favored to win the floor exercise but imploded in the end and wound up fourth that paved the way for Yulo to claim his breakthrough bronze.

“I wasn’t actually striving for a medal in vault but I still managed fourth in the world, that’s also something,” he said.