DOUBLE GOLD BY YULO
For the second time in two days, the Philippine flag was raised inside the gymnasium on a cold Sunday afternoon in Baku, Azerbaijan.
And it was because of Filipino gymnastics hero Caloy Yulo.
Delivering yet another sublime effort, the 22-year-old from Manila reigned supreme in vault to complete a golden double in the Baku leg of the FIG World Cup Series.
Yulo was spectacular in garnering a total of 14.933 from his pair of picturesque attempts that drew scores of 15.033 and 14.833, capturing the mint and blowing away the competition.
It was the second gold for the meek but determined world champion after he topped the parallel bars the day before, and third gold overall following his floor exercise triumph in the Doha, Qatar leg more than a week ago.
Yulo will also go home with a silver from Doha and a bronze from Cottbus, Germany – both in parallel bars.
And Yulo isn’t done yet as he is scheduled to see action in the fourth and final stage of the series set April 27 to 30 in Cairo, Egypt.
Great Britain’s 19-year-old star Harry Hepworth threatened to steal the thunder from Yulo after he came through with an equally impressive performance that gave him the lead with a 14.816.
Yulo, however, saved his best for last as he vaulted to a masterful Blanik or handspring double front pike where his legs and feet never came apart and his pike position was sublime with an extremely controlled landing.
The Hanoi Southeast Asian Games quintuple gold winner handled his ascent well where his only minor mistake was when he had to control his landing with a little step back.
It was close to perfection.