MANILA, Philippines – Top Filipino pole vaulter, EJ Obiena kickstarted his road to Olympic redemption after snatching a joint third-place finish at the 2024 Lausanne Diamond League in Switzerland on Wednesday, August 21 (Thursday, August 22, Manila time).
Two weeks removed from a heartbreaking fourth-place finish in the Paris Olympics, the new world No. 3 standout finished with a 5.82-meter clearance and failed all three attempts at 5.92 — the same fate that befell other third-place finishers Sondre Guttormsen of Norway and Australian Kurtis Marschall.
Current world record holder and two-time reigning Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis remained head and shoulders above the rest, easily copping gold at the 6.00m mark before netting the meet record 6.15m in three jumps.
“It’s always nerve-wracking when you have a big performance like I did at the Olympics,” Duplantis told Reuters. “I stepped out on the track today and I really loved it.”
Reigning silver medalist Sam Kendricks, meanwhile, nailed another runner-up finish with a 5.92m mark, as Greek Emmanouil Karalis, who edged Obiena out of the Paris podium via countback, fell victim to the rule this time in Lausanne as he slid to sixth due to needing two attempts at 5.82m.
Obiena continues his path toward physical and mental healing throughout the rest of his 2024 season, which includes a historic World Athletics-sanctioned pole vault event he is organizing at Makati City’s Ayala Triangle Gardens back home in the Philippines on September 20. – Rappler.com
