NAGOYA — Yeo Seo-jeong, 24, of Jecheon City Hall, reclaimed the Asian Games women's vault title on the 24th, the first day of the Chuseok holiday, eight years after her first win. Following her father Yeo Hong-chul, now executive director of the Korea Gymnastics Association, she collected a second Asian Games vault gold, extending the family's run of golden father-and-daughter performances in Korean gymnastics.
Yeo posted an average of 14.283 points across her two vaults to finish first among eight competitors in the women's vault final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Nagoya City General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 24th.
It was South Korea's 10th gold medal of the Games and the first medal for the country's gymnastics team. North Korea's An Chang-ok took silver with 13.666 points, and China's Du Siyu won bronze with 13.450 points.
Yeo, who had advanced to the final as the top qualifier, faced no real challenge. She drove off the vault with power, showed height, control in the air and a clean landing, and was the only finalist to average above 14 points.
She went for the win from her first vault, choosing the "Yeo 2," rated at a difficulty score of 5.4. After a run-up, the gymnast pushes off the vault with both hands, then twists two and a half times in the air, rotating 900 degrees before landing.
The skill is named after her father Yeo Hong-chul, who first performed it, and was designated by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). At the most important moment of her run to an Asian Games gold, the daughter turned to the skill her father created.
Yeo executed the Yeo 2 cleanly for an execution score of 9.066, giving her 14.466 points on her first vault. Having opened a gap on her rivals, she lowered the difficulty to 5.0 on her second attempt and delivered a steady routine. An execution score of 9.100 gave her 14.100 points and sealed the gold.
An Chang-ok of North Korea, seen as her strongest rival, wavered on the landing of her second vault. Her left foot went off the mat after touchdown, drawing a 0.3-point deduction, and she finished with an average of 13.666 points for silver.
For Yeo, it is a return to the top of the Asian Games after eight years. At 16, she won the women's vault gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, emerging as the face of South Korean women's gymnastics.
She skipped the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. With the event overlapping with the world championships, where places for the team competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics were at stake, she chose the world championships instead. In her absence in Hangzhou, An Chang-ok of North Korea took the vault title.
Eight years on, back on the Asian Games stage, Yeo beat An to reclaim the throne.
With this gold, Yeo now shares another mark with her father.
Yeo Hong-chul, known as the emperor of the vault in the 1990s, won back-to-back men's vault titles at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games and the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. He took silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
His daughter now also holds two Asian Games golds and an Olympic medal. Yeo Seo-jeong won bronze in the women's vault at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first South Korean woman to win an Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics.
The father has two Asian Games vault golds and an Olympic silver; the daughter has two Asian Games vault golds and an Olympic bronze. Across two generations, the pair who have written the history of South Korean vaulting now stand side by side as two-time Asian Games champions.
