Obiena is content with 8th place in Sweden as Duplantis controls the home competition
Philippine pole vault star EJ Obiena ends in a draw with the world’s third Sam Kendricks from the USA in the Beijer Pole Vault Gala
MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena has not yet rediscovered the form that made him the world’s 5th pole vaulter when he finished eighth in the Beijer Pole Vault Gala in Uppsala, Sweden on Wednesday 9 February (Thursday 10 February, Manila time).
Obiena competed for the second time this year and again failed to complete 5.81 meters and landed a draw with world number Sam Kendricks from the USA.
The Asian record holder also did not exceed 5.81m when he placed fourth in ISTAF Berlin in Germany last week.
In another display of dominance, the home game and the reigning Olympic champion Armand Duplantis dazzled in front of his countrymen when he snatched the gold medal by hovering over 6.04 m.
The only three participants left standing after 5.92 m, Duplantis and the Americans Chris Nielsen and KC Lightfoot all chose to jump over 5.98 m, but it was only the Swedish world record that managed to jump over 6.04 m, which made it just a try.
Duplantis tried to break his world record of 6.18 m, which has stood for almost two years again only to commit three straight rule violations of 6.19 m.
Nielsen, who finished second to Duplantis at the Olympics in Tokyo last year, took silver after a flawless performance in the previous rounds, while Lightfoot won bronze.
Greece’s Emmanuel Karalis and Norway’s Pal Haugen Lillefosse finished in fourth and fifth place respectively after finishing 5.81m.
Like Obiena and Kendricks, Dutch Menno Vloon and Brazil’s Thiago Braz also withdrew from the 5.70m competition, but they ended their campaigns in split six via countback where they avoided a foul in the first two heights.
Belgium’s Ben Broeders landed in 10th place, while Poland’s Piotr Lisek crashed in 11th and last place.
Obiena will return to action on February 11 when he flies to Poland for the Orlen Cup, the first of his last three events scheduled for the month. – Rappler.com