By Hana Al Dayyat
OCA Young Reporter from Jordan
Nagoya, Japan, September 24, 2026: Two-time Olympic champion Carlos Edriel Yulo delivered the Philippines' first gold medal of the 20th Asian Games on Thursday, capturing the men’s floor exercise at the Nagoya General Gymnasium.
The victory filled the final major void in Yulo’s decorated international resume, completing a set of top honors across the Olympic Games, World Championships, Asian Championships, Southeast Asian Games and now Asian Games.
Performing fourth in the apparatus final, Yulo executed a clean, high-difficulty routine to post an event-winning 14.666 points.
Kazakhstan’s Milad Karimi claimed the silver medal with a close 14.600, while Japan’s Shoma Tsukiyama captured the bronze on home soil with 14.566.
"Having this gold in my collection...it means it’s all complete now," Yulo said following the medal ceremony.
"We can just relax and hope for the best tomorrow. I will make sure I enjoy tomorrow’s competition. I’m just overwhelmed right now. I can’t process it yet."
The gold carries added personal significance for the 26-year-old Manila native, who spent his formative years training and studying in Japan.
After finishing seventh in the floor exercise at his Asian Games debut in Jakarta in 2018 and missing the Hangzhou Asian Games while prioritizing the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and his Olympic qualification campaign, Yulo returned to the continental stage in Nagoya, where he had the opportunity to claim the Asian Games gold he had long pursued.
Yulo returns to the Nagoya Rainbow Hall on Friday with opportunities to expand his medal count in the men's vault and parallel bars finals.