MANILA, Philippines – As expected, Carlos Yulo delivered as he earned a shot at four medals in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool, England.

The 22-year-old gymnastics star did not disappoint in his return to the world stage, qualifying to the finals of the all-around, floor exercise, vault, and parallel bars on Monday, October 31 (Tuesday, November 1, Manila time).

Seeing action in all six apparatuses, Yulo wound up at third in the all-around with a total score of 84.664 as he topped the floor exercise (15.266), placed second in the vault (14.849), and ranked fourth in parallel bars (15.3).

He is also a reserve in the rings after securing 10th with 14.066 points, although he landed at 31st in the horizontal bar (13.533) and 102nd in pommel horse (11.766) to finish behind two Japanese in the all-around standings.

Only Wataru Tanigawa (84.731) and Daiki Hashimoto (84.665) have better all-around scores than Yulo.

Yulo showed his determination to recapture the floor exercise crown he won three years ago in Stuttgart, Germany – his first world title – as he recorded the highest score both in difficulty (6.4) and execution (8.866).

He is a half-point ahead of second-running Ryosuke Doi of Japan (14.766) and has a sizable advantage over defending world champion Nicola Bartolini of Italy, who narrowly reached the finals at eighth place with 14.333 points.

In the vault, Yulo made a strong case for a second straight world title in the event as he finished behind only Artur Davtyan of Armenia, who clinched the top spot with 14.9 points.

A slight stumble on his landing on the Ri Se Gwang II (a piked Dragulescu), which netted Yulo the highest-tying difficulty of 6 points, saw him tally 14.733 points before he bounced back on his second vault with 14.966 points.

Davtyan garnered identical scores of 14.9 points on his two vaults.

Yulo later on punched his finals ticket in the parallel bars, where he bagged silver in Kitakyushu, Japan, last year, as he ranked behind China’s Zou Jiangyuan (15.7), Japan’s Yuya Kamoto (15.433), and Germany’s Lukas Dauser (15.4).

After a three-day break, Yulo returns to action on Friday for the all-around finals, where he will compete against 23 other gymnasts.

The floor exercise finals will be held on Saturday, and the vault and parallel bars finals on Sunday. – Rappler.com