No medal for EJ Obiena as he finishes 4th in Paris 2024 pole vault

An Olympic campaign that started with a lot of promise ended in another disappointment for EJ Obiena.

The world no. 2 couldn’t quite live up to his standing, falling just short of the podium in the men’s pole vault finals of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Tuesday, August 6 (Philippine time).

Obiena failed clear 5.95m in three tries and wound up fourth in the 12-man finale at the Stade de France.

Had he cleared that height, Obiena would have been assured his first Olympic medal.

Still, it was a marked improvement for the Filipino pole vaulter, who placed 11th in Tokyo 2020.

Meanwhile, world no. 1 Armand Duplantis of Sweden breezed his way to a second straight gold medal after leapfrogging the 6.0m mark.

The world no. 1 already needed four jumps to secure victory, clearing 5.70m, 5.85m, 5.95m, and 6.0m all on his first attempts.

Though already guaranteed a gold, the 24-year-old champion then broke the previous Olympic record set by Brazil’s Thiago Braz in Rio of 6.03m, easily clearing 6.10 meters on his first try.

Then came the moment of truth.

Mondo reset his own world record, breaking 6.25 meters on his third attempt. His previous record was 6.24m set earlier this year. 6.25 meters now also stand as the new Olympic record.

The 6-meter bar proved to be the true barometer in the field, as silver medalist Sam Kendricks of Team USA and bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece both missed their attempts.

Kendricks cleared 5.95 meters on his first attempt to take second place, while Karalis actually only cleared 5.90 meters, the same as Obiena. The Greek missed his first attempt at 5.95m and opted to pass.

Turkey’s Ersu Sasma, Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, China’s Bokai Huang, and Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen placed in the 5th-8th spots.

Rounding out the finalists were Germany’s Oleg Zernikel and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, The Netherland’s Menno Vloon, and Valters Kreiss of Latvia.