EJ Obiena cops bronze with season-best jump in Rome pole vault tilt

Philippines’s Ernest John Obiena compete in the men’s Pole Vault during the IAAF Diamond League competition on September 17, 2020 at the Olympic stadium in Rome. (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines—Olympic-bound EJ Obiena chalked up his best jump this year with a season-best 5.80 meters en route to a bronze medal campaign in the 2020 Rome Diamond League Friday.

The Filipino pole vaulter was tied with Belgium’s Ben Broeders but the Belgian got the silver after attempting just two jumps to clear the height while Obiena needed three.

Sweden’s Armand Duplantis was sensational in his gold medal jump, clearing 6.15 meters and breaking the competition’s record of 6.14 meters that Sergey Bubka of Ukraine set in 1994.

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Obiena’s season-best is a hair shy of his career-high jump of 5.81 meters set in Chiara, Italy last year that earned him a spot in Tokyo Olympics. The Olympic standard is 5.80 meters.

The 24-year-old from University of Santo Tomas has been training in Italy to prepare for the Olympics and has so far collected one gold, two silver, and three bronze medals since August.