MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena came oh so close to ending the Philippines’ 88-year Olympic medal drought in athletics.
Obiena fell short of a podium finish in the Paris Games after placing fourth in the men’s pole vault final ruled by the great Armand Duplantis of Sweden at the Stade de France on Monday, August 5 (Tuesday, August 6, Manila time).
Ranked No. 2 in the world and touted as one of the Philippines’ strongest medal hopefuls, Obiena failed to clear 5.95 meters as he lost the bronze to Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.
Obiena and Karalis both registered 5.90m, but the Greek won via countback after nailing each of the first five heights in a single attempt, while the Filipino committed a foul at 5.80m.
Duplantis once again showed that he is in a class of his own as he not only defended his Olympic throne but also set a new world record of 6.25m.
Already guaranteed of the gold after breezing past 6.00m, the two-time world champion easily hurdled 6.10m to erase the former Olympic record of 6.03m set by 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games champion Thiago Braz of Brazil.
Duplantis, only 24 years old and still improving, then raised the bar to 6.25m in an attempt to erase his previous world record of 6.24m he established in a competition in China in April.
After back-to-back fouls, Duplantis soaked in the admiration of fans at the 80,000-seater arena and went on to reset his world record for the ninth time, further embellishing his status as the greatest pole vaulter of all-time.
The USA’s Sam Kendricks bagged silver with 5.95m as he found Olympic redemption three years after he missed action in the Tokyo Games due to a positive coronavirus test.
Kendricks improved on his bronze finish in Rio de Janeiro, while Karalis cracked the podium after settling for fourth in Tokyo.
Missed chance
Save for a slight hiccup at 5.80m, Obiena looked every bit a medal contender as he easily cleared 5.85m and 5.90m in one try.
The only Asian member of the elite six-meter club, Obiena notched a year-best clearance of 5.97m in June and won a historic silver in the World Athletics Championships almost exactly a year ago in Budapest, Hungary.
But 5.95m proved to be a challenge for the 28-year-old from Tondo, Manila, who battled “physical problems” in the lead-up to the Olympics.
Obiena hit the bar on his way down in each of his three attempts as he missed out on becoming the Philippines’ first Olympic medalist in athletics since Miguel White won the men’s 400m hurdles bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games.
Still, Obiena enjoyed an improved Olympic run after a disappointing 11th-place finish in Tokyo.
Turkey’s Ersu Sasma and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall got fifth and sixth with 5.85m, while China’s Huang Bokai and Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen placed seventh and eighth with 5.80m.
Germany’s Oleg Zernikel and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre shared the ninth spot with 5.70m followed by Menno Vloon of the Netherlands and Valters Kreiss of Latvia to round out the 12-man final. – Rappler.com