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EJ Obiena stumbles in Tokyo

Sports

EJ Obiena stumbles in Tokyo

By Mark Rey Montejo

At A Glance

Two-time Olympian EJ Obiena faltered in his fourth World Championship appearance after failing to qualify for the finals of the men's pole vault event at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo Saturday, Sept. 13.

EJ Obiena (AP)

Two-time Olympian EJ Obiena faltered in his fourth World Championship appearance after failing to qualify for the finals of the men’s pole vault event at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo Saturday, Sept. 13.

The 29-year-old Obiena skipped the 5-meter bar before soaring past 5.55m on his first try to impress the crowd that also cheered wildly for world No. 1 Mondo Duplantis.

But the Tondo native failed to clear 5.70m and 5.75m and finished tied at 18th place in the elite 36-man field.

As expected, Duplantis swiftly advanced to the finals as he targets his third consecutive gold on Monday, Sept.15.

Greek Emmanouil Karalis, American Sam Kendricks, Norwegian Sondre Guttormsen, Australian Kurtis Marschall, Turkish Ersu Sasma, French Renaud Lavillenie, Thibaut Collet, and Ethan Cormont, Dutch Menno Vloon, Qatar’s Seifeldin Abdesalam, and German Bo Baehre completed the cast in the medal round.

With his early exit, the reigning Asian Games champion ended his medal streak in the biennial meet which was highlighted by his silver haul in 2023 Budapest edition off a personal-best of 6 meters.

Obiena will return to action in the Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge in Makati City next Sunday, Sept. 21.

There, Obiena will be competing against Sasma, Vloon, and Collet along with five other top-tier foreign vaulters.

Meanwhile, Robyn Brown, the 2023 Asian Athletics champion, vies in the heats of the 400-meter hurdles on Monday.

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