MANILA – Ernest John Obiena duplicated his personal best and took a silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) in Budapest, Hungary.
The Filipino pole vaulter, who already clinched a slot in the 2024 Paris Olympics, tied his record of six meters, which is good for a silver medal finish in the week-long world athletics meet.
Obiena, ranked No. 3 in the world, qualified for the finals by clearing 5.75 meters in the preliminaries. He also surpassed his previous best finish of bronze medal.
Obiena, a former University of Santo Tomas standout, cleared 5.90 and 5.95 without a hitch and committed a foul on his first try at six meters before a technically good jump on the next attempt.
World No. 1 pole vaulter and reigning Olympic champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden retained his world championship with a 6.10 meters clearance.
Duplantis, a long-time rival of Obiena in men’s pole vault event, attempted to eclipse his own world record of 6.22m but was unsuccessful in three attempts.
Australian Kurtis Marschall and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Chris Nilsen shared the bronze medal after finishing the finals with identical 5.95m.
This was the second time that Obiena breached the six-meter mark, having joined the elite “6-meter club” last June when he won the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway with the same clearance.
The 27-year-old Obiena has not missed a podium since winning the gold medal in record-breaking fashion at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last May.
Obiena intends to close out his season with another gold medal in the coming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China next month./PN
