Two gymnasts finished the men’s horizontal bar final at the 2026 Asian Games with the same score, and it was the Philippines’ Karl Eldrew Yulo, not a former continental champion from Kazakhstan, who left with the bronze.
The 18-year-old posted 13.666 points, built on a 5.0 difficulty and an 8.566 execution mark, at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium, also known as Rainbow Hall, on Friday, September 25. His total also included a 0.1 bonus point.
Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi matched that figure exactly. Karimi had attempted a more difficult routine, rated at 5.8, but a fall cut his execution score to 7.766, and under the rules, execution breaks a tie in total points. Rappler noted that Karimi is a veteran who previously won the Asian title on the apparatus.
China’s Tian Hao took gold with 14.700 on a 5.9 difficulty, and Japan’s Shinnosuke Oka claimed silver at 14.033 from a 5.4 difficulty. Oka is the reigning Olympic champion on the horizontal bar.
The result was not widely expected. According to The Manila Times, Yulo came into the final as the youngest of eight finalists after placing ninth in the preliminary round. He was the second gymnast to perform in the final. His routine included the Cassina and the Kolman, two release skills named after the gymnasts who first performed them, and he closed it with a clean landing.
Once the standings appeared on the arena screens, Reuters photos showed the teenager holding his head in disbelief and wiping away tears.
The medal put both Yulo brothers on the podium in Japan. Older brother Carlos won the floor exercise on Thursday, then added the vault title on Friday afternoon, hours before Eldrew’s final. Carlos scored 14.466 in the vault, from a 5.2 difficulty and a 9.266 execution. His floor exercise win had given the Philippine delegation its first gold medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
The bronze came in Eldrew’s first appearance at the Asian Games. Earlier this year, he won the floor exercise gold at the Antalya World Cup.
