After suffering an injury that slowed him down the past few months, EJ Obiena dropped one rung and slipped to fourth place in the recent World Athletics men's pole vault rankings.

Obiena, 29, ended 2024 with 1409 points, putting himself behind Sweden’s Armand Duplantis (1625), USA’s Sam Kendricks (1453), and Greek Emmanouill Karalis (1426).

Duplantis, Kendricks and Karalis bagged the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s pole vault event of the Paris Olympics where the Filipino athlete came up short anew for a podium finish.

Obiena later admitted that he was dealing with a back injury while vying in the French Capital.

Also inside the Top 10 are American KC Lightfoot (1365), Australian Kurtis Marschall (1361), Turkish Ersu Sasma (1340), Belgian Ben Broeders (1337), French Thibaut Collet (1333) and Chinese Bokai Huang (1329).

Though it was a roller-coaster ride last year for Obiena, the one-time Asiad champion is excited for the year ahead where he is expected to banner the Nationals international competitions.

“Ready for you #2025,” Obiena wrote on his social media.

Last October, the pride of Tondo was cleared by his doctor after recovering from a lower back injury which he suffered in the earlier months including a stress fracture in his spine while competing in the Silesia leg of the Diamond League.