EJ Obiena, a decorated Filipino pole vaulter, looks to add another medal in his collection when he competes in the men’s pole vault finals in the 2024 Paris Olympics on early Tuesday at the Stade de France.
The 28-year-old Philippine pride will go up against 11 other fierce competitors at 1:00 a.m. as he shoots for his breakthrough Olympic medal.
Obiena, the top-ranked in Asia and second best in the world, is hoping to have a better start this time around following a shaky run in the qualification round last Saturday, where he muffed his first two jumps at the 5.60 meters before skipping into the next mark at 5.70 meters.
Fortunately, Obiena got his rhythm and easily cleared it as well as the following height at 5.75 meters, which basically sealed his spot in the finals.
In the finals, the strongest threat to Obiena is world no. 1 Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, who needed just two leaps in the qualification round to qualify for the finals after breezily soaring past 5.60 and 5.75 meters.
Duplantis is the reigning gold medalist after a 6.02 clearance back in Tokyo Olympics and is also the current world record holder when he vaulted past 6.24 meters last April, asserting his status as one of the greatest pole vaulters in the world.
Obiena had once beaten Duplantis when the Filipino bet cleared 5.91 meters during the Brussels leg of the Diamond League in September 2022 with Duplantis only managing to clear 5.81 meters.
Meanwhile, another trackster in Lauren Hoffman will look to stay alive and remain in contention as she sees action in the repechage round of the women’s 400m hurdles at 4:50 p.m.
Hoffman, who finished 37th in the heats with a time of 57.84 seconds to miss an outright semifinals berth, will need to finish in the top two to advance to the next round. Otherwise, she will exit the Summer Games.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
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