Carlos Yulo sealed a landmark week for Philippine gymnastics on Friday, September 25, winning the men’s vault final at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. The gold came a day after his floor exercise triumph and gave the Olympic champion two Asian Games titles in 24 hours.
Yulo scored 14.733 on his first vault and 14.466 on his second for an average of 14.599. That was enough to edge Iran’s Mahdi Olfati by 0.066 points at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium Rainbow Hall.
“It was my best performance at these Games, but it was also close,” Yulo told media, including Olympics.com, after the final. “I’m really satisfied; I never imagined that it would be like this.”
The win carried extra meaning as redemption. Yulo had barely advanced from qualification with a 13.649 average after landing on his backside on one vault. In the final, he delivered when the scores counted most.
A day earlier, Yulo had become the first Filipino gymnast to win an Asian Games artistic gymnastics gold in the competition’s 75-year history with his floor title. The vault gold made him a double champion in Aichi-Nagoya and extended a career that already includes Olympic, world, continental, World Cup, and Southeast Asian Games golds on floor and vault.
With the vault victory, Yulo has now collected gold medals in both floor exercise and vault across the Olympics, World Championships, World Cups, Asian Games, Asian Championships, and Southeast Asian Games.
It was also a strong family day for Team Philippines. Younger brother Karl Eldrew Yulo captured bronze in the men’s horizontal bar final on the same Friday program, adding another medal to the family’s Asian Games haul.
Yulo later competed in the parallel bars final and finished fourth with 14.300 points, capping a busy apparatus schedule. The campaign still stands out for the two golds that defined the Philippine gymnastics story in Nagoya.
Teammate Juancho Miguel Besana placed fifth in the vault final. Broader team context from Friday’s results put the Philippines at nine medals overall, with Carlos Yulo supplying both of the country’s gold medals at that point of the Games.
For Filipino fans following the Games from home, the vault final capped a dramatic turnaround: a shaky qualification score on the path into the final, then a composed two-vault average that held off a strong Iranian challenge by the thinnest of margins.
Looking ahead, Yulo said the week gave him lessons to carry into the next major meet. “I’ve learned a lot of things here to apply and grow more into the next competition, to make my skills more beautiful and consistent,” he told Olympics.com, closing a satisfying Asian Games chapter built on trust, focus, and back-to-back golds.
Source: Olympics.com (https://www.olympics.com/en/news/asian-games-2026-carlos-yulo-seals-satisfying-week-two-golds-philippines) ; Rappler (https://www.rappler.com/sports/asian-games-artistic-gymnastics-carlos-yulo-vault-gold-september-25-2026/) ; GMA News Online (https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/sports/othersports/1003742/asian-games-carlos-yulo-wins-2nd-gold-karl-eldrew-gets-bronze-gilas-women-3×3-take-silver/story/)
