MANILA — Carlos Yulo completed a golden double at the 2026 Asian Games, ruling the men’s vault final on Friday for his second title in as many days at the Rainbow Hall of the Nagoya General Gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan.
Fresh from delivering the Philippines’ first gold medal of the Games in the floor exercise, Yulo again stood atop the podium after posting a two-vault average of 14.599.
Iran’s Mahdi Olfati settled for the silver medal with 14.533, while Hong Kong’s Ka Ki Ng claimed the bronze with 14.116.
Yulo immediately put himself in gold-medal position with a 14.733 on his opening vault, combining a 5.6 difficulty score with a 9.133 execution mark.
The Filipino gymnastics star followed it with a 14.466 on his second attempt, built on a 5.2 difficulty score and an impressive 9.266 execution mark, to seal the championship.
The victory came just a day after Yulo captured the Philippines’ first gold medal of the Asian Games by topping the men’s floor exercise final with 14.666 points.
Fellow Filipino Juan Miguel Besana also reached the vault final and placed fifth with a 13.783 average. He scored 13.766 on his first vault and 13.800 on his second.
Yulo, however, missed out on a third medal after finishing outside the podium in the men’s parallel bars with 14.300 points, composed of an 8.700 execution score and 5.6 difficulty mark.
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Philippine skateboarding prodigy and Thailand SEA Games champion Mazel Paris Alegado narrowly missed the podium after finishing fifth in the women’s park final.
One of the youngest competitors in the field, Alegado improved as the competition progressed and registered her best score of 80.65 points on her fourth and final run.
She earlier posted 70.81 in her opening run and 80.19 in the second before a slip resulted in a 1.67 in her third attempt.
China’s Cao Shiqi, also 12, edged Alegado for fourth place after scoring 81.23 on her final run.
Japan’s 15-year-old Mizuho Hasegawa captured the gold medal with 94.03 points, while Chinese Taipei’s 14-year-old Lin Yi-fan took silver with 85.15. Japan’s 20-year-old Misugu Okamoto secured the bronze with 82.86.
In the men’s park event, Jericho Francisco came within one spot of the podium after placing fourth with 84.41 points.
Japan’s Izuku Nagahara won the gold with 88.96, followed by Chinese Taipei’s Yong Yan-ku with 87.33 and Japan’s Gunjo Shiji with 86.03.
In boxing, Junmilardo Ogayre advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s 60-kilogram division following a unanimous decision victory over Nepal’s Khagendra Roka Magar.
Bacolodnon Riza Pasuit, however, saw her Asian Games campaign come to an end after suffering a unanimous decision loss to Thailand’s Natnicha Chongprongklang in the women’s 54-kilogram division./PN
