Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo (born February 16, 2000) is a Filipino artistic gymnast who has won multiple medals at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He is the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with his floor exercise bronze medal finish in 2018, and the first ever gold medal for the Philippines in 2019 in the same event. This performance also qualified him for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. A specialist in the floor, parallel bars, and vault apparatus, Yulo is noted for his precision in form and the difficulty of his routines, especially in floor exercise.[1]
Carlos Edriel Poquiz Yulo was born on February 16, 2000[2] to Mark Andrew Yulo and Angelica Yulo[3] in Manila, Philippines,[4] and was raised in Leveriza Street, Malate.[5][6] He is the second of five children; one of his younger siblings, Drew, is also a gymnast. Yulo grew up watching Filipino gymnasts train and compete at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate.[7]
Yulo attended Aurora A. Quezon Elementary School for his primary education in Manila, where he was already training for the Philippine National Games as part of the National Capital Region's gymnastics team.[8] Through the support of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, he was able to attend Adamson University in Ermita for his secondary education.[3]
In 2016, Yulo accepted an offer by the Japan Olympic Association to train in Japan under a scholarship program. After moving to Japan, Yulo continued his education at Teikyo University in Itabashi in 2013 and is majoring in literature.[9] Yulo is fluent in Japanese.
In 2016, Munehiro Kugimiya from Japan became Yulo's coach, and the MVP Sports Foundation would start extending financial aid to his career the following year.[10]
In his Gymnastics World Cup debut in the 2018 series, he consistently performed well, winning a medal in the Melbourne, Baku, Doha, and Cottbus events.[6] At the men's floor exercise event at the 2018 Asian Games, he scored highest in the qualification phase[11] but failed to secure a medal after finishing 7th in the final.[6]
At the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, Yulo advanced to the all-around and floor exercise finals.[12][13] He won bronze in the floor exercise [14] becoming the first Filipino and the first male Southeast Asian gymnast to win a medal at the championships.[15] At the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Yulo claimed gold in the floor exercise finals making history as the first Filipino and Southeast Asian world champion in artistic gymnastics.[16][17][18]
By advancing to the final round of the all-around event of the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Yulo secured qualification to compete for the Philippines at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[19]
At the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, Yulo finished on the podium in every event winning gold in the all-around[20] and floor exercise[21] and silver in the pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar.[22][23]
Yulo reportedly trains for six to eight hours a day, six days per week.[4]
He clinched his first-ever Asian Championship title when he clinched the gold medal at the floor exercise of the 2022 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha after taking silver in the individual all-around. He followed it up with gold medals in the vault and parallel bars events.[24][25] [26]
By mid-2023, around the time of the 2023 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Singapore, Yulo parted ways with long-time coach Kugimiya, reportedly over disagreements in priorities.[27]
Yulo's bid to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris continues, with Aldrin Castañeda as his interim coach[28] who was also Yulo's instructor during his junior years.[29] At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Yulo placed 59th, failing to qualify for the Olympics in the all-around event.[30][31] He still qualified for the Olympics floor exercise event.[32]
Year | Event | Team | AA | FX | PH | SR | VT | PB | HB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Junior | |||||||||
2014 | |||||||||
Asean School Games | |||||||||
Pacific Rim Championships | 6 | 8 | |||||||
2015 | |||||||||
International Junior Competition | |||||||||
2016 | |||||||||
Pacific Rim Championships | |||||||||
2017 | |||||||||
Junior Asian Championships | |||||||||
International Junior Competition | |||||||||
Senior | |||||||||
2018 | |||||||||
World Cup Series (Melbourne) | 7 | ||||||||
World Cup Series (Baku) | |||||||||
World Cup Series (Doha) | 5 | ||||||||
World Cup Series (Cottbus) | |||||||||
Asian Games | 7 | 7 | 4 | ||||||
World Championships | 23 | ||||||||
12th Toyota Cup International | |||||||||
2019 | |||||||||
World Cup Series (Melbourne) | |||||||||
World Cup Series (Doha) | |||||||||
All Japan Championships | |||||||||
Asian Championships | 9 | 4 | 4 | 7 | |||||
All Japan Senior Championships | |||||||||
Southeast Asian Games | |||||||||
World Championships | 10 | ||||||||
2020 | All Japan Senior Championships | ||||||||
All Japan Championships | |||||||||
2021 | All Japan Championships | ||||||||
Summer Olympics | 4 | ||||||||
All Japan Championships | |||||||||
World Championships | 5 | ||||||||
2022 | Southeast Asian Games | 6 | |||||||
Asian Championships | 9 | 4 | |||||||
World Championships | 8 | 7 | R2 | ||||||
All Japan Championships | |||||||||
2023 | World Cup Series (Cottbus) | ||||||||
World Cup Series (Doha) | |||||||||
World Cup Series (Baku) | 7 | ||||||||
Southeast Asian Games | |||||||||
Asian Championships | 7 | 4 | |||||||
World Championships | 4 | R2 | |||||||
2024 | World Cup Series (Baku) | ||||||||
World Cup Series (Doha) |