EJ Obiena’s streak of podium finishes came to an end during the Meeting Hautes-de-France Pas-de-Calais held at the Stade Couvert Régional Liévin on Thursday morning, Philippine time.
Obiena finished in 10th place with a height of 5.64 meters, just below Valentin Lavillenie, the hometown favorite, on the countback.
This was a significant departure from his performance in the past seven events, where he finished in the top three, including back-to-back titles in Poland just the past week.
During the competition, Obiena needed two attempts to clear 5.64 meters to get on the scoreboard. He skipped 5.73 meters but failed to clear 5.82 meters, settling on his final mark.
Meanwhile, world champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden, though a bit shaky, still managed to secure another title with a best clearance of 6.01 meters, which he achieved with two attempts.
Italy’s Claudio Stecchi set a new personal best of 5.82 meters on his first try and ended with the silver, while Australia’s Kurtis Marschall and the USA’s Jacob Wooten tied for third place on countback.
Obiena expressed his hope of regaining his form when he resumes his indoor season in the next few events. Additionally, Obiena can overtake the USA’s Christopher Nilsen in the second spot in the pole vault standings when World Athletics releases an updated leaderboard at the conclusion of the indoor season.
Obiena’s performance at the Meeting Hautes-de-France Pas-de-Calais is a temporary setback in what has been an impressive run of form for the Filipino pole vaulter.
