Credits: ABS-CBN News
Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena has wrapped up his last competition before heading to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, finishing fourth at the Meeting de Paris in France on Sunday.
The 6-foot-2 athlete tied with Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis after both cleared 5.75 meters in this leg of the Diamond League. Obiena narrowly missed a podium finish, unable to clear 5.85 meters twice and 5.95 meters on his final attempt. Sweden’s Armand Duplantis won the event by clearing 6.00 meters, the United States’ Sam Kendricks secured second place with 5.95 meters, and France’s Thibaut Collet took third with 5.85 meters.
Obiena, currently ranked second in the world, now turns his focus to the Olympics, aiming to improve upon his 11th place finish from the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Aside from his fourth-place finish in Paris, Obiena recently celebrated consecutive victories in Poland’s Memorial Czeslawa Cybulskiego, setting a meet and stadium record of 5.87 meters in Poznan just days after a 5.97-meter first-place finish in Bydgoszcz.
Obiena is part of a 22-athlete delegation representing the Philippines at the Paris Games, which will take place from July 26 to August 11.