A close miss for EJ Obiena in Mondo Duplantis’ world
PARIS, France — Heartbreak in the pole vault pit.
In a night of incredible feats at the Stade de France Monday, EJ Obiena tried to come up with something of his own but ended up empty, with his last clean vault good for just fourth place.
Long before the night ended in the grand stadium, Mr. Obiena was confined down the floor, oblivious from the crowd of over 80,000 letting out a deafening roar as Armand “Mondo” Duplantis flew to the night sky for a record feat.
Pole vault is Mondo’s world.
“The reality of the sport is not everyday you’re gonna jump high, unless you’re Mondo,” said Mr. Obiena.
The Filipino ace could do just 5.90m in the championship he long waited for, his three failed attempts at 5.95 closing the door on his Olympic medal hope.
“It’s close but not close enough, though,” said Mr. Obiena, yielding the bronze to Greek Emmanouil Karalis via the countback tiebreak. The silver went to American Sam Kendricks.
Mr. Karalis was perfect until three misses — one at 5.95 and two at 6.00. Mr. Obiena, on the other hand, missed a first try at 5.80 before flunking thrice at 5.95 — a heartbreaker for the World No. 2 hoping to medal in his second Olympic appearance.
“Life or sports can be beautiful but at the same time can be brutal,” said Mr. Obiena who couldn’t be consoled by his improvement from 11th in Tokyo to fourth in Paris.
“In this meet, what matters is a medal. Fourth place is the same as 11th. I fell short and that’s it,” he said.
Mr. Obiena said he’ll take it a day at time as he decides on his future.
“We’ll see. I will talk to my team, let’s see how’s my health overall, let’s see how it goes if I’m healthy. If it’s not doing any more damage to myself, maybe I will continue the season,” said Mr. Obiena, with a season that includes a stop in Manila in September.
“I don’t really know. Right now, I really need to process everything. Let’s see what the days will bring,” he added.
For the Manila event, Mr. Obiena is looking to invite all the finalists here. “I think the country deserves that,” he said.
Weeks before the Olympics, he hinted going through some health problem. But he said he felt fine, and the problem didn’t bother him in the competition.
It’s just about missing 5.95. It’s the make-or-break deal for Mr. Obiena.
Going down with the cross bar with him, Mr. Obiena missed a moment with the stars of world athletics in the medal ceremony.
In this great night, Mr. Duplantis was the closing act, breaking the world record for the ninth time — but the first in the Olympics. He cleared 6.25m to electrify the crowd. He earlier sealed the win at 6.00.
There were also the moments of Kenyan Beatrice Chebet in 5,000 meters, century dash king Noah Lyles starting his quest in 200m, US discus thrower Val Allman winning a second straight Olympic gold and Keely Hodgkinson winning the 800m for the first gold in the track meet for Great Britain.
It’s a close miss for Mr. Obiena and the Philippines. — Nelson Beltran