MANILA – Eldrew Yulo showcased his skills on Wednesday to qualify for four finals events in the 3rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships in Pasay City.
Eldrew made it to the gold medal events of the floor exercise, vault, horizontal bar and the individual all-around.
Earlier in the day, the 17-year-old told ABS-CBN News he was most confident in the floor exercise -- the favorite event of his older brother and double Olympic gold medalist Carlos Yulo -- and vault, where his brother won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics and horizontal bar.
"Natupad yung isa ko pang wish. But my job's still not finished. Gagalingan ko pa and bibigay ko lahat ng best ko. Sinabi ko sa interview niyo po kanina na if makakapasok ako sa finals, I will give my 100 percent or more than 100 percent," he told reporters after the qualifiers.
Eldrew finished second in floor exercise with 14.233 points, behind Russia's Arsenii Dukhno who had a score of 14.500.
He finished fifth in vault with an aggregate score of 13.750, resulting from a strong first attempt (14.200) and a second try (13.300) where he stepped off the mat in his landing.
READ: Eldrew Yulo thanks family for support in Junior World Championships
In the high bar event, Eldrew's strong performance was enough for sixth out of eight finalists with a 13.700 score, including a 0.3 penalty.
Despite a fall in the pommel horse (11.333), shaky moments in the parallel bars (12.666), and a decent showing in the still rings (12.200), Eldrew's performance still send him to the individual all-around final.
The 17-year-old placed 14th out of 24 finalists with a total score of 78.332.
Batang Pinoy standouts CJay Pernia and Hillarion Palles III, who also represented Team Philippines, finished 106th and 113th in the competition.
"Medyo bittersweet kasi hindi sila nakapag-ready ng maayos. Almost one month lang preparation nila, ako almost one year preparation ko. Very unfair sa kanila. As team captain nalulungkot ako. Masaya din kasi binigyan kami ng FIG ng chance na magkaroon ng team," he said.
Dukhno topped the individual all-around with a total score of 82.065, China's Lanbin Yang follows with 80.698 and Japan's Nao Ojima ranks third with a score of 80.631.
The individual all-around finals is on Saturday, while the apparatus finals will run from Sunday to Monday.