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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider EJ Obiena bags pole vault bronze in star-studded Rome tilt

EJ Obiena bags pole vault bronze in star-studded Rome tilt

Published Sep 18, 2020 02:14 am
Armand Duplantis sets new outdoor world record
Tokyo Olympics-bound EJ Obiena posts his season-best record at the Rome Diamond League on Thursday. (Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP/file)

Pole vaulter EJ Obiena pocketed the bronze medal in the elite Rome Diamond League in Italy on Thursday after posting a season-best 5.80 meters.

Obiena failed to clear the 5.85m – an attempt that could have reset his own Philippine record of 5.81m – and settled behind Belgium's Ben Broeders and world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden.

Broeders registered 5.80m on his second attempt for silver while Duplantis captured the gold with a world record-breaking performance of 6.15m.

EJ Obiena
Philippines' Ernest John Obiena competes in the men's Pole Vault during the IAAF Diamond League competition on September 17, 2020 at the Olympic stadium in Rome. (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

It was Obiena’s sixth podium finish since he started competing last month and second bronze medal in the Diamond League after the same podium finish in Monaco last month.

Former world champion Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany came in fourth with 5.70m.

Duplantis sets new outdoor world record

Swedish pole vault star Armand Duplantis eclipsed Ukrainian legend Sergey Bubka's 26-year mark, setting a outdoor new pole vault world record of 6.15m at the Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday.

Duplantis, who already holds the world indoor record of 6.18m, bettered the mark of 6.14m achieved by Bubka in July 1994 in Italy.

The 20-year-old succeeded on his second attempt in a competition he dominated in perfect warm and windless conditions, but without spectators to celebrate in an empty Stadio Olimpico.

"I think I'm still up in the clouds right now," said the US-born athlete.

"It's a surreal, super crazy feeling."

Duplantis set the world record indoors in February, and had made the outdoor mark his goal with the Olympic Games and European championships postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It was something I really wanted to do, there was a lot of confusion between the indoor and outdoor," said Duplantis.

"I thought 'why not just do it?' be the best outdoor, to clear up the confusion."

Duplantis had cleared an earlier attempt but hit the bar on the way down.

"It was a kind of mental thing."

"After that first attempt I knew what I had to do it so just went out and did it," said Duplantis, who heads to the final Diamond League meet in Doha next week. (With reports from AFP)

Related Tags

IAAF Diamond League Athletics Diamond League Armand Duplantis IAAF IAAF World Diamond League Athletics IAAF Diamond League Rome Diamond League EJ Obiena
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