Philippines' Carlos Yulo strikes gold again, claiming vault title
Carlos Yulo is golden again.
The history-making Filipino gymnast claimed his second gold medal in as many days Sunday (4 August) in the men's vault at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Yulo used a combination of difficulty - his first vault, a piked Dragulescu, was only one of two 6.0 difficulty valued vault - and precision to earn a 15.116 average score.
His gold Sunday is the third-ever for the Philippines at the Games, after his win in Saturday's floor final and Hidilyn Diaz's weightlifting win in Tokyo.
Armenia's Artur Davtyan and Team GB's Harry Hepworth battled for the silver and bronze with Davtyan taking the slight edge for second, 14.966 to 14.949.
Always a natural talent, Yulo has struggled in competition since taking his first floor medals at the world championships in 2018 (bronze) and 2019 (gold).
He nearly missed qualifying to these Games at last year's World Championships after having to count a 0.000 on the vault in the prelim round.
Yulo thanked those who have been with him through it all Sunday.
"I'm grateful for the people who truly believed in me through the ups and downs," he said. "This one is the sweetest, I think."
The final came just over 24 hours after his first triumph on the floor exercise.
"I was just hoping to perform well (today). I didn't really expect a medal. It really felt like a bonus for me. It's crazy, because last night I couldn't sleep," Yulo admitted. "I was so hyped because I had (won) that gold medal (on floor).
"It still didn't sink in. This morning I was so sleepy. I didn't know what to do. But I did it today."