Carlos Yulo secured bronze in the individual all-around at the 2025 Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships and advanced to five apparatus finals, marking a strong return after a 10-month break.
Carlos Yulo kicked off his return to competition in strong fashion, delivering Team Philippines’ first medal at the 12th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jecheon, South Korea, with a bronze in the individual all-around on Thursday, June 5.
The 25-year-old gymnastics star tallied a total of 83.633 points to finish third overall behind reigning Olympic all-around champion Oka Shinnosuke with 85.134, and his fellow Japanese gymnast Hasegawa Tsuyoshi with 83.967.
Yulo posted his highest scores in the floor exercise of 14.433 points and vault with a 14.500 average, the events in which he previously won Olympic gold. He emerged as the top qualifier in floor and second in vault, just behind Iran’s Mahdi Olfati.
The Olympic gold medalist also booked spots in the parallel bars final with a 14.167 for 4th, still rings with 13.633 for 7th, and horizontal bar with 13.800 for 10th.
Despite finishing outside the top eight in the horizontal bar, he advanced due to the two-per-country rule, with four Japanese gymnasts occupying the top spots.
His only stumble came on the pommel horse, where he registered a 13.100—his lowest event score.
Though Yulo was unable to defend his all-around title from the 2022 edition in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the bronze remains a significant achievement, especially given it marks his first competition after a 10-month layoff following his Olympic qualification campaign in Paris.
Yulo returns to action on Saturday, June 7, in the floor exercise and still rings finals, then competes again on Sunday, June 8, in the vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar finals.
In the all-around standings, Filipino teammate Juancho Miguel Besana finished 22nd with 71.167 points, followed by John Ivan Cruz (29th, 60.667), Justine Ace de Leon (31st, 59.167), and Jhon Romeo Santillan (55th, 18.067).
Notably, Cruz also advanced to the vault final, ranking seventh with a 13.533 average.
Japan dominated the team all-around event, with China and Kazakhstan completing the podium in second and third, respectively.