By REYNALD MAGALLON
Strong but graceful. Fearless but precise.
Karl Eldrew Yulo lived up to his lofty status, coming through with flawless performances in four final events to complete a six-gold medal sweep in the boys’ secondary artistic gymnastics in the 2023 Palarong Pambansa on Friday, Aug 4 at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The brother of world champion, Caloy Yulo, Karl proved to be head and shoulders above his competitors, executing intricate routines with relative ease to top the competition anew.
His finesse and precision were in full display in the floor exercise, registering a score of 13.5 points while showing his strength and prowess in the vault where he notched 13.9 points.
Yulo also impressed in the horizontal bar with 9.0 points but had to win the pommel horse through a tiebreaker with NCR teammate Hillarion Palles after they both scored 9.25 points.
“Masaya po kasi first time ko lang po ulit makapag-sweep ng gold. Last ko po nakapag-sweep ng gold 2017 pa po, six years ago so masaya po sa feeling pero di ko po maexplain kung gaano ako kasaya ngayon,” said the 15-year-old budding gymnast who was ending his Palaro career with a total of 20 golds since started joining in 2017.
“Nadalian lang po ako sa paggawa ng routines pero may kaba pa rin po siya. Still nangangatog pa rin ako sa competition kahit nationals,” he added.
In all, Yulo, who also won the individual all-around and team event has bagged a total of six golds this year, surpassing his five-medal haul in the 2017 and 2019 editions. So far, he is also now the most bemedalled athlete with the week-long tiff entering its final stretch.
Following him was Dumaguete archer Naina Dominique Tagle who won her fifth gold after helping Central Visayas win the 70m secondary girls team event at the STII Gold Toe Archery Center.
Tied against the Big City bets, 4-4, Tagle and her teammates needed a shoot off to snag the gold medal. Tagle bagged the gold in 30m, 50m, 60m and 1440 round while finishing with the silver in the 70m
Angela Talosig from Midsayap, North Cotabato and Mishka Sy from the National Capital Region bagged four medals each as the curtain to the pool action also came to close on Friday.
Talosig closed out her third Palaro stint strong, topping the girls secondary 800m freestyle with a time of 9:36.25 to add to her 200m, 400m, 1500m freestyle crowns.
Sy, on the other hand, won the girls secondary 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke 200m individual medley and 400m medley relay but missed out on a possible fifth gold after her team settled for silver in the 400m freestyle relay.
