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| EJ Obiena just fell short of a medal. From Obiena's Facebook page |
MANILA--EJ Obiena was barely inches away from securing a medal in the Paris Olympics men's pole vault event but could only settle for fourth place in the championship match early Tuesday (Philippine Time) at the Stade De France.
Despite seemingly good shots at 5.95 meters, Obiena saw the bar falling down in all his tries as he failed to overtake either Greece's Emmanouil Karalis, United States' Sam Kendricks, and Sweden's Mondo Duplantis at the podium.
Despite skipping 5.95 after one miss and fouling in his two tries at six meters, Karalis took the bronze through the countback tiebreaker over Obiena.
Kendricks, who cleared 5.95 meters in just one try, took home the silver.
Being the only player to clear six meters, Duplantis, to the surprise of virtually no one, won the gold, and he decided to go first for Thiago Braz's Olympic record of 6.03 meters by telling the staff to set the bar at 6.1 meters.
In just one try, Duplantis broke the record with ease.
He then tried to break his own world record that he set in Xiamen, China last April, and right on the final attempt of the night, Duplantis completed the 6.25-meter jump to the delight of the jam-packed crowd.
Despite bowing out just before the podium finish formalities, Obiena finished remarkably better than his 11th-place stint in 2021.
It also came amid a back injury that he suffered during the build-up that nearly sent him to early elimination.
Follow him on X: @IvanSaldajeno
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