EJ Obiena competes with the world’s best pole vaulters once again in the Weltklasse Wanda Diamond League Finals on Thursday, Sept. 9, in Zurich, Switzerland.
The 26-year-old Olympian earned enough tournament points to make it to the finals where he will be up against five other veterans that include Olympic champion and world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden.
Also seeing action in the elite meet are Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Chris Nilsen, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and fellow Olympian KC Lightfoot of the United States and Russian Timur Morgunov.
Obiena is coming off a silver finish at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial 2021 in Poland over the weekend.
He also boasts of a new national record and season best of 5.91 meters at the Meeting de Paris Wanda Diamond League a week ago to settle second behind Duplantis.
Duplantis remains the heavy favorite to win the event with a season-best of 6.10m in a Dutch meet last June. Except for a dismal 5.62m performance in Switzerland last August, he has never posted below 6 meters in all his Diamond League events this year.