Carlos Yulo Now Has Five Gold Medals at the SEA Games

Gymnast Carlos Yulo just concluded his Vietnam Southeast Asian Games stint Monday, May 16, with five gold medals after reigning supreme at the recent men's vault and men's horizontal bar competitions. 

Yesterday, a sixth-place finish in the pommel horse event earlier that day in Hanoi from one of the country's most important athletes was unexpected, to say the least. What makes it an even more glaring anomaly for 22-year-old Olympian Carlos Yulo was that he bagged silver in the same competition at the last SEA Games in 2019. 

But the athlete rose to the occasion in the still rings competition after the tough outing, beating out seven other competitors with a score of 14.400 later on. Trailing behind him were Vietnam's Nguyen Van Khanh Phong and Le Thanh Tung, who had scores of 13.800 and 13.500, respectively.

Last Friday, Yulo took home his first gold medal in the men's all-around competition. He then proceeded to clinch his second gold pretty easily in the floor exercise rounds, scoring a 15.200.

Sunday's win takes Yulo's gold medal tally to three. He and triathlete Kim Mangrobang are the only two multiple gold winners so far in the SEA Games. Mangrobang won in the women's duathlon and triathlon.

As of 10:00 a.m. of May 16, the Philippines sits at the third spot of SEA Games 2021 with 20 gold medals. It was duo Stephanie De Leon and Michael Angelo Marquez who won us our 20th in the Latin dance competition on Sunday.

The Philippines is currently the defending overall champions heading into the 2021 SEA Games (the games were cancelled during the pandemic), behind Vietnam and Thailand. If we top this year's competition in Hanoi, Vietnam, it will be the country's third SEA Games crown in history after winning in 2005 and 2019.