Carlos Yulo wipes competition with Artistic Gymnastics World Cup floor exercise gold

Two-time Artistic Gymnastics world champion Carlos Yulo regained his form in Doha, Qatar, winning the gold medal in the World Cup series.

The 23-year-old Filipino recorded 14.833 in the floor exercise finals, a .633 differential against silver medalist Kazuki Minami of Japan.

The Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) Twitter account described his performance as "fabulous" with "terrific execution throughout."

Carlos Yulo 🇵🇭 turned in a phenomenal exercise, scoring 14.833 for the lead! He began with a 2.5 twist to front double pike. There was also a triple full side pass, 1.5 twist to Randi, and a 3.5 twist to close. Terrific execution throughout. Fabulous #Gymnastics. #FIGWorldCup pic.twitter.com/Ck6gKsTas4

— FIG (@gymnastics) March 3, 2023

It was a leap in improvement for Yulo after the World Cup opener in Cottbus, Germany, where he failed to qualify for the finals with 13.400.

Yulo was expected to engage in a showdown against top qualifier Artem Dolgopyat of Israel, but the reigning Olympic champion withdrew from the finals.

The Filipino gymnast will also try to pick up a win in vault and parallel bars on Saturday night.

Yulo, the 2021 world vault champion, was the top qualifier with 14.800, just .03 ahead of 2022 titleholder Artur Davtyan of Armenia.

Caloy also topped the Doha qualifiers in parallel bars at 14.933 after a bronze finish in Cottbus. The winner of that event, Ukraine's Illia Kovtun, is second in the qualifications with 14.766.