Yulo’s younger bro collects 5 golds
DAVAO CITY – Karl Jahrel Yulo continued to follow the footsteps of his elder brother after collecting five gold medals in the elementary boys artistics gymnastics on Thursday in the 2019 Palarong Pambansa at the University of Immaculate Conception gym here.
Yulo, an 11-year-old Grade 6 student from Aurora Quezon Elementary School in San Andres, Manila, stamped his class in the high bar (9.200 points), vault (11.975), mushroom
(9.20), floor exercise
(12.000) and individual all-around to become one of the multimedalists in this weeklong competition.
Yulo said this year’s competition was hard because of the tough field.
“Kaya sabi ni coach kailangang mas galingan ko pa,” said Yulo, who hauled five golds in last year’s edition held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. (That’s why coach said I need to perform harder.)
Karl’s brother, 18-year-old Carlos, is the first Filipino and Southeast Asian to win a medal at the world championships last year after finishing bronze in the floor exercise in Doha, Qatar.
Karl currently guns for his sixth mint as he and teammates Gabriel Tajonera and Hillarion Palles III competes in the team event for NCR.
Yulo’s teammates Jasmine Velasquez also made waves in the secondary artistics gymnastics by scooping three golds in individual all-around (41.400), team event (119.100) and single bar (7.000).
At the University of the Philippines pool, NCR’s Philip Joaquin Santos smashed another record in swimming after timing 2 minutes and 8.16 seconds to capture the secondary boys 200-meter backstroke.
Santos, who broke his own 200m individual medley mark on Wednesday, eclipsed the 2:09.87 meet mark of Jerald Jacinto in 2017.
Davao Region’s Juliana Marien Villanueva also eclipsed her own record in the secondary girls 800m freestyle in 9:32.77. Her previous mark posted last year was 9:45.40.
In athletics, Western Visayas’ Alfrenze Braza grabbed his second gold medal in record-breaking fashion after shattering the secondary boys 1500m mark with a time of 4:01.95.
Three other runners also surpassed the meet record of 4:05.8 held by Northern Mindanao’s Kevin Capangpangan since 2014 with silver medalist Reymar Molave of NCR clocking 4:02.38, bronze winner Anthony Bacle of Calabarzon timing 4:02.47 and fourth-placer Erwin Mancao of Northern Mindanao finishing in 4:02.55.
Vince Jayson Buhayan of Central Visayas and Decerie Niala of Eastern Visayas, who became fastest runners in their division on Wednesday, also continued their dominance with victories in the secondary boys and girls 200m.
Buhayan dethroned reigning champion Veruel Verdadero of NCR for the second time by posting 22sec while Niala registered 24.62sec.