Thomasian pole vaulter EJ Obiena bid adieu to his hopes of winning an Olympic medal in Paris, finishing fourth in the men’s pole vault finals at the 2024 Olympics held at Stade de France on Aug. 6 (Manila time).
Obiena, ranked No. 2 in the world, fell out of medal contention after he was unable to clear the 5.95-meter bar.
Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, who bypassed the 5.95-meter height but failed to clear 6 meters, claimed the bronze with a better record than Obiena.
Obiena managed to clear 5.90 meters on one attempt, setting a new personal best at the Olympics. However, he missed the 5.95-meter height on his first two attempts.
Karalis chose to skip the 5.95-meter mark after failing on his second attempt and instead attempted 6 meters.
With one last chance, the world No. 2 attempted the 5.95 meters but knocked the bar off, allowing Karalis to secure the bronze.
Despite the setback, Obiena’s performance represents a significant improvement from the 2020 Olympics, where he finished 11th after failing to clear 5.80 meters, a height he chose to skip in this final.
Obiena cleared the 5.50-, 5.70-, and 5.85-meter bars with ease.
World No. 1 Armand “Mondo” Duplantis effortlessly secured his second consecutive Olympic gold medal, being the only finalist to clear 6 meters.
He first surpassed Thiago Braz’s 6.03-meter record from Rio 2016 with a 6.10-meter clearance and then set a new personal best by exceeding 6.25 meters on his final attempt.
USA’s Sam Kendricks, the world No. 3 pole vaulter, secured the silver medal with a clearance of 5.95 meters.
