‘Reality of sports’ hits Obiena in World Indoor
THE law of averages and the reality of sports simply caught up to Ernest John ‘EJ’ Obiena in the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday, March 4 (Manila time).
Aiming to be the first Filipino to medal in the tournament, the pole vaulter from Tondo posted one of his worst finishes in his professional career, placing ninth in the 11-man field competition.
“Took my chances, but it did not work out. Clearing one bar in the whole competition and coming in 9th place,” said Obiena in a Facebook post on Monday, alluding to the 5.65-meter (m) bar, the lone height he managed to clear in the tiff.
“The reality of sports sometimes. First world indoor championships are in the books as the 2024 indoor season comes to a conclusion. Thank you everyone who came, watched and screamed their hearts out. I owe you one.”
Obiena even needed two attempts to clear 5.65 m, a height he usually surpasses with ease.
The world no. 2 pole vaulter skipped 5.75 m to clear 5.85 m in which he could not clear in two attempts.
Obiena decided to use his final attempt at 5.90 m but to no avail as he crumbled in the competition which was sort of a preview for the Paris Olympics this year.
Eight Olympic-bound pole vaulters participated in the meet including Obiena himself and world no. 1 and gold winner Armand Duplantis of Sweden who cleared 6.05 m.
The other Paris-bound pole vaulters that participated in the world meet are Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Thibaut Collet of France, Menno Vloon of The Netherlands, Ersu Sasma of Turkey, Piotr Lisek of Poland, and bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greence who grabbed the bronze with a 5.85 m clearance.
Sam Kendricks of the United States took home the silver medal by surpassing 5.90 m.
As he wrapped up the indoor season in which he started with two gold medals, Obiena now plunges to the outdoor competitions.
Obiena, 28, made the podium 15 times out of the 16 tournaments he joined in the outdoor season last year.