MANILA, Philippines – Carlos Yulo knows there is a long road ahead of him after his remarkable showing in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Yulo will get busy trying to earn his second Olympic appearance as he sees action in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships – the only qualifier for the 2024 Paris Games this year – in Antwerp, Belgium in September.

“Another successful competition – qualified for the world championships and we’re just getting started,” Yulo, who represented the country in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, wrote on Facebook.

“Still lots of room for improvement, just taking it one step at a time.”

Yulo secured his place in the worlds after bagging the individual all-around silver in the Asian championships, where he finished as the best performing male gymnast.

He also struck gold in parallel bars, floor exercise, and vault, and clinched bronze in horizontal bar to surpass his three-gold, one-silver haul in the Doha, Qatar edition last year.

“There were many challenges prior and during the competition but I managed to get back on track and perform in my best condition,” Yulo said.

In Antwerp, Yulo needs to finish as one of the eight highest-ranked men’s all-around gymnasts in the qualification to punch his ticket to Paris.

But male gymnasts from China, Japan, and Great Britain – which qualified a full squad of five gymnasts for Paris after occupying the team all-around top three in the previous world championships – no longer need to obtain a quota place.

That means Paris is within reach for Yulo considering he landed eighth in the individual all-around of the Liverpool, UK edition of the worlds last year, finishing behind two gymnasts from Japan and one each from China and Britain.

Yulo is also expected to contend for golds in vault and floor exercise, events where he is a former world champion, and parallel bars. – Rappler.com