EJ Obiena ties for 5th in French athletics meet

Olympic-bound pole vaulter EJ Obiena settled for a fifth place finish at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais on Tuesday, just a few days after bagging two gold medals in Germany.

The 25-year-old Filipino cleared the 5.60 meter mark, 20 centimeters lower than the national indoor record he set in Berlin and eight centimeters lower than his best jump in Dortmund.

The jump was enough to tie with 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil for fifth.

Sweden's Armand Duplantis claimed the gold with a 5.86 meter jump, while United States' Christopher Nilsen took the silver after clearing the same height.

France's Renaud Lavillenie, the 2012 London Olympics gold medalist, copped the bronze with a 5.80 jump.

Piotr Lisek of Poland ranked fourth after clearing 5.74 meters.

Obiena was the first Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Games after clearing 5.81 meters in a men's pole vault competition in Italy back in 2019.

In the same year, he won the gold medal and set a new Southeast Asian Games record for men's pole vault after clearing 5.45 meters.

—MGP, GMA News