MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena advanced to the men’s pole vault final in the Paris Olympics, but not without putting the entire country on the edge of its seat.
On the verge of elimination, Obiena regained his bearings and finished in the top 12 of the qualification to stay in the hunt of ending Philippine athletics’ Olympic medal drought at the Stade de France on Saturday, August 3.
He teetered on the brink of an unprecedented exit after committing back-to-back fouls at 5.60m before the pride of Tondo, Manila hit his stride.
Deciding to skip 5.60m and raise the bar to 5.70m, Obiena cleared the height as he let out a loud roar and pounded his chest, relieved to finally get the proverbial monkey off his back.
He then easily hurdled 5.75m in a single attempt to claim his place in the final, where he looks to win the Philippines’ first medal in Olympic athletics since Miguel White won bronze in the men’s 400m hurdles in 1936 Berlin Games.
Obiena placed seventh overall, with defending champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden sharing the top spot with Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen, Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, Turkey’s Ersu Sasma, and Germany’s Oleg Zernikel.
Menno Vloon of the Netherlands finished ahead of Obiena at sixth, while the USA’s Sam Kendricks (8th), China’s Huang Bokai (9th), Germany’s Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (10th) also made the cut by clearing 5.75m.
Latvia’s Valters Kreiss and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall completed the top 12 with 5.70m, edging those who also hurdled 5.70m via countback for the last two final spots.
The final is scheduled on Monday, August 5 (Tuesday, August 6, Manila time). – Rappler.com