Gymnastics News Weekly: Carlos Yulo will attend SEA Games, skip Asian Games
Plus, what to watch for in week five of NCAA women's gymnastics action and a look back at China's Li Li on the floor exercise at Barcelona 1992
Artistic Gymnastics
Two-time world gymnastics champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines has announced at least some of his competitive plans for 2023.
The 22-year-old phenom will attend May’s Southeast Asian Games, set to be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, despite rules that will prevent the star from taking home more than two gold medals at the event.
At the 2021 edition, Yulo won five titles.
“He is joining. We’re doing it out of sportsmanship and for the sport that we love,” said Cynthia Carrion Norton, president of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, according to philstar.com.
Yulo will have to miss the Asian Games due to a scheduling conflict. The Games, due to be held 23 September to 8 October, overlap with the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships almost fully. The Worlds in Antwerp (30 September to 10 October) will be the first chance for Yulo to qualify to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Week five of NCAA women's gymnastics sees busy Friday night
Clear your Friday (3 February) plans.
All six of the top-ranked women's collegiate teams will be in action including a top-five match-up between No. 4 Utah and No. 5 UCLA.
Heading into week five, the top three remain unchanged with the universities of Oklahoma (197.969), Florida (197.700) and Michigan (197.619) holding strong. Utah and UCLA round out the top five with Olympic all-around gold medallist Sunisa Lee's Auburn Tigers in the sixth spot.
In the individual rankings, Flordia's Trinity Thomas (39.688) is the top-ranked all-arounder with Lee and fellow Olympic champion Jade Carey currently tied for second at 39.675.
Here's a look at meets to keep an eye on in week five (all times Eastern):
Friday, 3 February
- Michigan, Southern Connecticut and Fisk at Rutgers, 7pm
- Auburn at Alabama, 7:30pm
- Florida at Arkansas, 8pm
- Iowa State at Oklahoma, 8pm
- UCLA at Utah, 9pm
- Georiga at LSU, 9pm
Saturday, 4 February
- Oregon State at Washington, 4pm
Sunday, 5 February
- George Washington, Pitt and Air Force at Denver, 4pm
- Arizona State at Cal, 5pm
From the vault…
This week, we look back at China’s Li Li on the floor exercise from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Li scored a 9.850 for this routine in the women’s team final, where her team finished fourth overall.