Carlos Yulo came tantalizingly close to a medal when he placed fourth in the men’s vault finals following a total score of 14.716 in the Summer Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre here on Monday.

Yulo’s 14.866 score in his second and last vault attempt called Dragulescu, a handspring double front move with half turn, was even better than the 14.833 of eventual gold medalist Shin Jeahwan (total 14.783) of Korea, but the Filipino gymnast’s 14.566 in the first vault, dragged his total score to 14.716 at fourth place.

This was just a hairline short of the 14.733 total of bronze medalist Artur Davtyan of Armenia, who had scores of 14.800 and 14.666.

“Wala na po tayo magagawa doon. Sobrang lapit ko na po. May chance po na makakuha ng medal kung hindi po ako lumagpas (There is nothing we can do about it. I’m too close. I have a chance to get medal if I did not cross the pad),” said Yulo, referring to his first vault, where his right leg went outside of the pad during landing.

“Nakakahinayang lang po kasi ang ganda ng second vault ko (It’s just disappointing because my second vault is beautiful),” added the 21-year-old Yulo, who was hoping to redeem himself in the vault after failing to advance to the finals of his favorite men’s floor exercise.

Russian Denos Abliazin finished runner-up to the Korean with a total of 14.783

The Korean and the Russian posted matching average scores of 14.783 in a tie that was broken by the gymnast with the higher score of the two vaults before the average for the final score, giving the gold to Shin.

Davtyan, who earned an average of 14.733, was also the winner of a tie-break with the Yulo.

Russian Nikita Nagornny, Yulo’s main rival in the floor exercise, only placed fifth with 14.716.

Turkey’s Adem Asil had the best single score of 15.266 in the first vault, but a 13.633 in his second had him slipping to no. 6.

Yulo, disappointed by his failure to win a medal in these games, however, vowed to come back strong.

“Gusto kong magpalakas. Feeling ko po may igagaling pa ako (I want to be strong. I feel I can still do better),” said Yulo, who is competing in the All-Japan Seniors next month.

“Hindi po muna ako makakauwi sa Pilipinas dahil may competition po ako next month. Gusto ko na nga pong bumawi (I can’t still go home to the Philippines because I have a competition next month. I really want to get it back),” Yulo said. (PNA)