Carlos Yulo aims for second Olympic gold in vault finals

Carlos Yulo has a chance to achieve what no one has done before in Philippines' Olympic history: bag two gold medals in a single Summer Games appearance. 

The 24-year-old Filipino gymnast, who is probably still on a high following his gold medal run in the floor finals just last night, will attempt to secure another medal when he sees action in the men's vault finals on Sunday at 10:24 p.m. at the Bercy Arena. 

A little over 24 hours removed from his breathtaking 15.000-point showing on the floor, Yulo will look to further etch his name in the history as he plunges into the vault finals, which will see him go up against tough competitors. 

Yulo finished sixth during the qualification round with 14.683 markers, but enough to qualify for the finals alongside seven other gymnasts, which include Filipino-British Jake Jarman. 

Jarman, who bagged the bronze medal during the floor finale, wound up fifth in the vault preliminaries with 14.699 points while 2023 World Championship vault bronze medalist Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine is the top seed with 14.833. 

Also in the fold are Jarman's compatriot Harry Hepworth of Great Britain, 2012 Olympic vault bronze medalist Igor Radivilov of Ukraine, 2021 Olympic vault bronze medalist Artur Davytan of Armenia, 2022 Asian Games vault silver medalist Mahdi Olfati of Iran, and Aurel Benovic of Croatia. 

Yulo is looking to complete yet another redemption in the vault after falling just short of a podium finish in the previous Summer Games, In Tokyo three years ago, Yulo qualified for the vault finals, but only managed to rack up 14.716 points in the medal round to finish fourth overall. 

Before Yulo's vault finals, Nesthy Petecio will also try to secure at least a bronze medal when she faces China's Zichin Xu in the quarterfinals of women's 57kg class.

Petecio has been on a roll in the Paris Games as she defeated India's Jaismine in the Round of 32, followed by a win against French foe Amina Zidani in the Round of 16. 

Should Petecio win later, the Filipino boxer will deliver the country's second guaranteed medal from boxing and the third overall from this year's Games. It will also be her second Olympic medal following her silver medal in Tokyo three years ago.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News