MANILA – Filipino Ernest John Obiena captured a historic world championship pole vault bronze medal after an Asian record-setting performance in Eugene, Oregon.
Obiena finished third after clearing 5.94 meters in the Men’s Pole Vault Final of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on Sunday night (Monday in the Philippines) at Hayward Field.
The 5.94 meters of the former University of Santo Tomas standout as broke his previous personal best of 5.93 meters that he set in Innsbruck, Austria last September 2021.
Obiena opened the finale with 5.55 meters before it took him two jumps to clear 5.70 meters. He then successfully vaulted his way through 5.80 and 5.87 meters.
Obiena dropped to fourth spot after committing a fault on his first attempt at 5.94 meters but came right back up to solo third after completing 5.94 meters on his second try.
The six-meter mark remained out of reach for the 6-foot-2 Obiena, however, as he failed to get off the ground in his three attempts to clear the bar later in the competition.
Swedish superstar Armand Duplantis, as expected, captured the gold medal with his 6.06 meters performance while American Chris Nilsen took the silver with 5.94 meters.
Obiena did qualify in the final round after clearing 5.75 meters on Friday night (Saturday in the Philippines) to finish third in Group B and sixth overall.
Obiena, currently the No.6 ranked pole vaulter in the world, said bagging a bronze medal was already a bonus as he was delighted to have qualified to the finals of the world pole vault competition.
“Normally, I only get to thank people when I win. Well for me, being here in Eugene and to be able to compete in the final of the World Championships is already a big win,” wrote Obiena in a Facebook post.
“After all of the things that have happened, from missing my supposed first World Indoor Championship earlier this year to contracting COVID-19 a few weeks back, we are here,” he added./PN
