Carlos Yulo ends Illia Kovtun's parallel bars win streak in Baku World Cup

Carlos Yulo won the parallel bars at the third round of the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup in Baku on Saturday (11 March).

Ukraine's Illia Kovtun had won six consecutive World Cup competitions on the apparatus, including last weekend in Doha where the Filipino took second place.

Yulo prevailed this time with his superior execution marks proving decisive as he scored 15.400 to Kovtun's 15.366.

The two-time world champion will be fancied for more success on Sunday on vault, the apparatus in which he won the world title in 2021 and silver last year.

Kovtun was also second in the floor exercise behind Kazakhstan's Olympic finalist Milad Karimi.

Riley Loos of the United States was third with 2021 world champion Nicola Bartolini just missing out on the podium.

Uzbekistan's eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina had to settle for vault second behind Coline Devillard.

The Frenchwoman's opening effort of 14.333 gave her a sizable advantage and, despite only scoring 13.033 with her second, her average of 13.683 saw her come out on top ahead of the 47-year-old veteran.

After a number of falls saw her miss out on the podium last week in Doha, Qiu Qiyuan of the People’s Republic of China took victory on uneven bars with the 15-year-old scoring 14.700.

Italy's 2018 Youth Olympic Games star Giorgia Villa was second with Dutchwoman Sanna Veerman rounding out the podium.

And there was a home win in the men's rings as Nikita Simonov secured his first World Cup success since 2019 with Yulo down in seventh place.

• Carlos Yulo aiming for Olympic perfection by learning from his 'failures'

Results from apparatus finals at Baku World Cup, Saturday 11 March 2023:

Men's

Floor Exercise

1. Milad Karimi (KAZ) 14.200
2. Illia Kovtun (UKR) 13.933
3. Riley Loos (USA) 13.733

Parallel Bars

1. Carlos Yulo (PHI) 15.400
2. Illia Kovtun (UKR) 15.366
3. Cameron-Lie Bernard (FRA) 14.600

Rings

1. Nikita Simonov (AZE) 14.633
2. Mahdi Ahmad Kohani (IRI) 14.500
3. Vinzenz Hoeck (AUT) 14.433

Women's

Vault

1. Coline Devillard (FRA) 13.683 (14.333; 13.033)
2. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) 13.433 (13.633; 13.233)
3. Yu Linmin (CHN) 13.383 (13.766; 13.000)

Uneven Bars

1. Qiu Qiyuan (CHN) 14.700
2. Giorgia Villa (ITA) 14.000
3. Sanna Veerman (NED) 13.766