Filipino pole vaulter and world no. 3 ranked Ernest John “EJ” Obiena fell short of repeating over no. 1 seeded and world champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden.
The 6-foot-2 Obiena settled for a bronze medal finish in the 2023 Mondo Classic on Thursday evening (Friday, Manila time) at Upsalla, Sweden.
Obiena, a 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaigner, ended with just a bronze medal in a tournament attended by well-known pole vaulters with a 5.91-meter leap.
Duplantis captured the gold medal after tallying a massive 6.10 meter clearance, while the United States’ KC Lightfoot was a distant silver medalist with 5.91 meters.
This was the first meeting between Obiena and Duplantis following the former’s stunning gold medal win in the Brussels Diamond League in Brussels, Belgium, in September 2022.
In the said tournament, Obiena managed to unseat Duplantis after clearing 5.91 meters on his third and final attempt. The Swiss settled for a silver medal with 5.81 meters.
The bronze medal in Sweden was the third medal for the former University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers pole vaulter in his last three tournaments this 2023 season.
