By Dion Mikhail Fetalvero

Carlos Yulo proved why he is world number one on November 1.

The Filipino gymnast made wonders on his 51st FIG Artistic Gymnastics  inWorld Championships campaign opener in Liverpool, England, as the world champion qualified for the individual all-around and the floor, vault, and parallel bars finals.

Photo Courtesy of Jat Tenerio

Upping the ante from his world championships performance at Kitakyushu, Japan, last year, the Asian Championships multi-medalist added another finals spot to his belt after tallying the third-highest score in the men’s individual all-around (84.664), a shy away from Olympic gold medalists Daiki Hashimoto (84.665) and Wataru Tanigawa (84.731).

Among the six apparatuses, the Filipino Olympian recorded his highest performance in his pet event, the floor exercise, where he swept the competition with a 15.266 score – posting the highest result in difficulty and execution with 6.400 and 8.866, respectively.

Yulo, who aims to replicate his Stuttgart world championship performance on the floor, was half a point ahead of second placer Ryosuke Doi of Japan (14.766) and nearly a point ahead of defending champion Nicola Bartolini of Italy (14.333).

Meanwhile, the vault apparatus also looked promising for the defending champion, as he netted a score of 14.849 – good for second place behind Artur Davtyan of Armenia (14.900).

The defending champion experienced minor difficulty in the landing of his Ri Se Gwang II vault (14.733), but came back to nail his second attempt with 14.966.

Yulo also booked a spot in his parallel bars routine after placing fourth in the event with 15.300. Olympic champion Zou Jiangyuan cleared the event with (15.7) – almost 0.3 ahead of Japan’s Yuya Kamoto (15.433).

Capping off his already impressive performance, Yulo was named a reserve in the still rings where he placed 10th with 14.066 points. The 22-year-old also delivered a 13.533 on the horizontal bars and an 11.766 on the pommel horse.

The Filipino phenom will return to the venue on Friday for the all-around finals and compete on Saturday for the floor exercise.

Meanwhile, Yulo will vie to defend his number-one ranking in the vault and silver placement in the parallel bars finals on Sunday.