By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Without his trusted poles, EJ Obiena faltered again.
Competing on borrowed poles, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics veteran stumbled in the Bauhaus-Galan Wanda Diamond League, finishing a disappointing seventh in the event won expectedly hometown superstar Armand “Mondo” Duplantis at the Olympiastadion in Stockholm, Sweden.
Obiena cleared the bar at 5.70 meters on his second attempt, settling for the second lowest placing after countback as he ended tied with with France’s Thibaut Collet, United States’ Clayton Fritsch and Belgium’s Ben Broeders.
He attempted 5.85m, but was unsuccessful.
“Not my day today… Thank you to the boys for lending me some sticks to jump on. Greatly appreciate it, gentlemen,” Obiena wrote on social media.
Duplantis wowed his legion of countrymen by capturing the gold medal with a 6.00m performance. The world No. 1 pole vaulter was flawless throughout, clearing 5.60m, 5.80m and 5.90m with relative ease.
He tried to break his one-month-old world record of 6.24m by attempting 6.25m, to no avail.
Two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States bagged the silver in 5.90m while fellow American and Olympian KC Lightfoot bagged the bronze with 5.80m.
Obiena has been having problems with his poles since late last month at the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czech Republic where his poles arrived at the last minute and eventually broke in mid-competition on his way to finishing seventh.
He managed to clinch the bronze medal at the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway three days ago also on borrowed poles after experiencing the same mishap.
The Philippine Athletics said a set of pole is now on its way to where Obiena is currently based.
