Carlos Yulo overcomes elbow injury with world championship accolades

October 27 ------ World champion gymnast Carlos Yulo did not let anything hinder him from clinching multiple world medals, including a serious elbow injury. Yulo, who won a vault gold and parallel bars silver in the 2021 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, disclosed to reporters on Tuesday, October 26 that he injured his elbow in training two months ago.

But it also meant that the 4-foot-11 dynamo couldn't have brought home an additional silver medal in the parallel bars because his entry was dependent on his injury situation. "Dapat dalawa (floor exercise and vault events) lang talaga papasukin pero pinilit namin 'yung p-bar na pumunta pa ako ng doktor, nagpaturok ako para makapagtraining ako kahit sa p-bar man lang," shared Yulo. "Nakapag-touch na ako ng ibang events pero hindi ko masyado pinupush kasi masakit siya."

According to Yulo, he fell from the high bar and hurt his elbow, which he couldn't straighten for three weeks. Though he did not break his bones, the doctor recommended for him to take it easy. "Wala pong sinabing time ng recovery basta sinabi niya, huwag masyadong pilitin pero pangalawang punta po kasi namin, every week pumupunta kasi kami, sabi naman po na pwede ko na siyang gamitin pakonti kaunti," shared Yulo.

Yulo even impressed the competition by topping the parallel bar qualifying event with a score of 15.566, which was higher than the winning mark of China's Hu Xuwei at 15.466 score in the final. The Filipino was leading the race with a score of 15.300 before Hu, who was sixth to perform, overtook him.

Gymnastics action isn't over yet for Yulo as he will be competing in one more meet in Japan before training for a packed 2022 schedule which will feature the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam, Asian Games in Hangzhou, China and the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool.

Source: rappler.com