EJ Obiena couldn’t sustain his winning form a few days back after finishing sixth in the prestigious Bauhaus Galan Wanda Diamond League meet in Stockholm, Sweden Thursday (Friday in Manila).
The Tokyo Olympian could only clear 5.73 meters – far lower from his winning performance of 5.92m at the Taby Stavhoppsgala – to finish behind eventual champion and world record holder Armand Duplantis.
Duplantis improved his own outdoor world record by posting 6.16m – one centimeter higher than his previous mark set in Rome two years back.
The meet is only Obiena’s second tournament since contracting Covid-19 last month that had him miss two earlier scheduled events.
He treated his recent performance as a learning experience.
“You win some... then you learn some,” Obiena wrote on social media, accompanied by a video clip of his performance.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Christopher Nilsen and 2016 Rio Games champion Thiago Braz – who settled for third behind Obiena in the Taby meet – both cleared the bar at 5.93m, but Nilsen claimed the silver via countback.
Pal Haugen Lillefosse and three-time world indoor champion Renaud Lavillenie came in fourth and fifth with 5.83m.