Obiena jumps to silver finish in World Athletics Championships
ONE by one, Filipino pole-vault star EJ Obiena is breaking every record that he has set his sights on.
And on this one memorable Saturday night (Sunday morning in Manila) in Budapest, Hungary, Mr. Obiena added another historic performance by capturing a breakthrough World Athletics Championships silver medal following a magnificent six-meter clearance.
The recent feat was another record in Mr. Obiena’s book as he had surpassed the bronze he copped in the Worlds in Eugene, Oregon — an accomplishment no other Filipino before him had achieved.
It was also the second time he made the mythical 6.0 meters plateau or just a little more than a month after his first one in Bergen, Norway where he became the first Asian and 28th person in the planet to have ever done so.
Since that same mark was the Asian standard, add that too.
After breezing through the qualifying round along with 13 others following an effortless 5.55m a few days back, the Asian champion and World No. 3 from Tondo, Manila went supernova in bagging the silver.
It was a great effort that only the Herculean Armand Duplantis eclipsed after the Olympic champion and world record-holder did an indomitable 6.10m that was enough to claim the gold.
Mr. Obiena also trumped American Christopher Mr. Nilsen, who recently supplanted the former at World No. 2.
Mr. Nilsen settled for a bronze that he shared with Kurtis Marschall of Australia with an identical 5.95ms.
Mr. Obiena had outperformed Mr. Duplantis twice — the first last occurred last year in Brussels, Belgium and the other and most recent one in Monaco a month ago—and it may just be a matter of time he would beat his fiercest of rivals.
Mr. Obiena is now pursuing is snaring the country’s first Olympic medal since Miguel White brought home a 400m hurdles bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games in next year’s Paris Games where he had already qualified. — Joey Villar
