EJ Obiena narrowly misses pole vault medal in Paris Olympics

Philippines’ EJ Obiena competes in the men’s pole vault final of the athletics event at the Paris Olympics Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Antonin THUILLIER / AFP)

EJ Obiena missed the podium of the men’s pole vault final early Tuesday morning (Manila time) failing to come unglued at 5.95 meters in the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France.

With just four athletes in contention, Obiena missed all three tries at 5.95m, settling for fourth place in the tournament.

It was still a marked improvement for the 28-year-old Obiena, who finished 11th in the Tokyo Olympics and was a podium favorite here as the world No. 2 pole vaulter.

READ: EJ Obiena apologizes for missing out on Paris Olympics medal

“It’s painful. I missed a medal by one jump and it wasn’t far on all my attempts at [5.95m],” Obiena said in an interview with ONE Sports PH.

“I apologize. I promised I’m gonna go back after Tokyo and do better. I did, but it didn’t change in my book. I still came up short. I’m really sorry. I apologize for it.”

EJ Obiena’s performance in the men’s pole vault performance of the Paris Olympics 2024. –MARLO CUETO/ART

But he couldn’t quite get a rhythm for the 5.95m, even after making a technical adjustment on his third attempt.

As expected, Sweden’s world No. 1 Mondo Duplantis, the longtime record holder of the men’s division, went home with the gold medal. He broke his own world record and cleared 6.25m on his final attempt.

American world No. 3 Sam Kendricks finished with the silver after failing to crack 6.0m.

READ: EJ Obiena ‘sorry’ for making Filipinos nervous after slow start

Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, ranked world No. 8, finished with the bronze at 5.90m, same as Obiena, who lost the tiebreak due to more attempts.

“Even with the fourth place, I’d say I’ve done everything I can to be where I’m at and I’m proud of the effort of my team, myself, and everybody who made this possible. But it doesn’t make it less painful,” said Obiena, who holds the Asian record at 6m.

The Philippines remains stuck at two medals in athletics in its Olympics history.

Miguel White took the bronze in the 400-meter low hurdles in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and Simeon Toribio grabbed the bronze in the high jump in the 1932 Games in Los Angeles.