UST alumnus EJ Obiena cleared 5.75 meters in his third attempt to book a ticket to the men’s pole vault finals in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.
The Olympian placed fifth in group A and tenth overall. He needed to make it into the top 12 to qualify for the finals.
Obiena cleared 5.50 and 5.65 meters with flawless first attempts placing him on top of the standings in his group.
The 25-year-old Obiena, however, slipped to fifth place after failing to clear 5.75 meters in his first two attempts.
“Thank you for all your prayers, after some nerve wracking moments, I made it to the finals on August 3. Thank you lord for listening to our prayers,” he wrote on Facebook.
Obiena was the only Asian, who qualified for the finals.
Finals preview
Germany’s Bo Kanda Lita Baehre and USA’s Christopher Nilsen spearheaded the preliminary rounds, emerging as the top contenders overall after clearing 5.50, 5.65 and 5.75 meters all in their first attempts, respectively.
World ranking’s top athlete Armand Duplantis from Sweden placed third overall after clearing 5.50 meters in two attempts and 5.65, 5.75 in his first attempts.
Leading in Obiena’s bracket is USA’s KC Lightfoot who placed fourth overall after clearing 5.75 meters on his first attempt, followed by Australia’s Kurtis Marschall and France’s Renaud Lavillenie.
2016 Olympic champion Thiago Braz tied with Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis to place eighth overall, surpassing Obiena’s current slot in 10th place.
Obiena, however, managed to overtake Poland’s Piotr Lisek who sits at third place in the world pole vault rankings.
Netherland’s Menno Vloon also made it to the finals placing seventh while Turkey’s Ersu Sasma, Germany’s Oleg Zernikel and Great Britain Harry Coppell all clinched a slot for the finals after they tied for 12th place.
The men’s pole vault finals will be held on August 3, Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. M.E.V. Villeza
