It took five days for the Philippine delegation to claim a title at the 2026 Asian Games, and the gymnast who delivered it says the journey there was harder than his winning routine made it look.
Carlos Yulo won the men’s floor exercise final on Thursday, September 24, at the Nagoya General Gymnasium with a score of 14.666, built on 8.966 in execution and 5.7 in difficulty. His margin was slim. Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi, the last gymnast to perform, scored 14.600 for silver, just 0.066 behind, while Japan’s Shoma Tsukiyama took bronze with 14.566.
In an Instagram post after the final, the two-time Olympic champion gave the credit to God and said he faced trials both before arriving in Japan and during the Games.
“Hindi magiging posible lahat ng ‘to kung hindi dahil po sainyo Lord God! Hindi naging madali ang mga na experience ko bago makarating dito sa Japan at habang nandidito sa Asian Games, kaya sobrang natutuwa po ako na nasungkit natin ang gintong medalya,” Yulo wrote.
He did not describe those difficulties in detail. The competition itself started poorly for him. In qualifying on Monday, September 21, he placed seventh in vault, an event in which he holds two world titles, and barely made the eight-man final after stumbling on the landing of his first attempt. He still topped the floor exercise that day with 14.600. Afterward, he said in Filipino that his preparation had not gone as planned, but that he had learned lessons to carry into the rest of the week.
The Asiad had also eluded him before. At 18, he went home without a medal from the 2018 Games in Indonesia, finishing fourth in vault and seventh in floor despite leading the floor qualification, according to The Manila Times. He missed the 2023 edition in Hangzhou because it overlapped with that year’s World Championships. Speaking after Thursday’s final, Yulo said he had made mistakes at both the Tokyo Olympics and the Jakarta Asian Games. “Now, I was able to redeem myself here,” he said.
In the same post, Yulo thanked his team and supporters, and gave a separate message to his longtime partner, Chloe San Jose.
“Sa pinakamamahal ko [Chloe San Jose] thank you mahal ko sa palaging pag-papalakas ng loob at patuloy na pag-push sakin para mas lalo ko pang galingan at mas mahalin yung ginagawa ko inside and outside ng karera na to,” he said.
As the Games began, San Jose told the Inquirer that Yulo had put his phone away to focus on his routines. She was not at his training sessions because of accreditation limits, and said he had been working only with his brother and coach Aldrin Castañeda.
The floor title fills the one gap in a résumé that already includes gold medals from the Olympics, the World Championships, the Asian Championships, the World Cup, and the Southeast Asian Games. “I’m just overwhelmed right now. I can’t process it yet,” Yulo said.
The win raised the Philippines’ total to one gold, one silver, and four bronze medals. His younger brother, Eldrew Yulo, also reached the floor final in his Asian Games debut and placed seventh with 12.233.
The older Yulo has two more medal chances on Friday, September 25, in the vault and parallel bars finals. Eldrew advances to the horizontal bar final despite finishing ninth in qualifying, because China exceeded the two-gymnast-per-country limit.
Yulo also commented on the scoring after Thursday’s final. He said the judges appeared to be as strict with the Japanese gymnasts as they had been with him, and that he believed his execution may have been better than theirs.
