EJ Obiena bags historic pole vault silver in world championships

Obiena, who has already earned an Olympic berth in Paris next year, matched his own Asian record by clearing 6.00 meters to finish second behind world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden.

EJ Obiena produced another historic performance after claiming the pole vault silver medal in the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Sunday, Aug. 27 (Manila time).

Obiena, who has already earned an Olympic berth in Paris next year, matched his own Asian record by clearing 6.00 meters to finish second behind world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden.

Duplantis retained his world title with a 6.10m clearance.

The reigning Olympic champion attempted to eclipse his own world record of 6.22m but was unsuccessful.

Australian Kurtis Marschall and 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Chris Nilsen shared the bronze with identical 5.95m.

Obiena’s feat surpassed his previous historic performance last year in Eugene, Oregon where he claimed bronze behind Duplantis and Nilsen.

It also bolstered his preparations for the Paris Olympics where he aims for a podium finish.

With 12 finalists starting at 5.55m, only five vaulters went on to clear 5.85m: Duplantis, Obiena, Marschall, Nilsen and France’s Thibaut Collet.

Obiena, Nilsen and Collet went on to clear 5.90m while Duplantis opted not to compete at that height. Marschall failed on his first try, but skipped successfully straight to a personal best of 5.95m.

Collet copied the Australian’s strategy as the bar was raised to the challenging 6.00m mark.

Duplantis flew over the height easily, as did Obiena on his second attempt. The remaining vaulters, however, struggled, with Collet getting booted out first, followed by Marschall and Nilsen.

This was the second time that Obiena breached the 6.00m mark, having joined the elite “6-meter club” last June when he won the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway with the same clearance.

Obiena has also not missed a podium since winning the gold medal in record-breaking fashion at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last May.