Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 3) — EJ Obiena is the first Filipino athlete to secure a place at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The World No. 3 pole vaulter qualified for next year’s Summer Games by clearing the 5.82-meter mark on Sunday (Stockholm time) at the Wanda Diamond League’s Bauhaus Galan meet in Stockholm, Sweden which kicks off the sport’s Olympic qualifying season.
The six-foot-two Obiena needed two attempts to make the entry standard.
Also off to Paris is Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, who cleared the 5.82-meter mark on his first try.
The Filipino athlete settled with silver as he exhausted all of his attempts to vault into 5.95 meters.
Duplantis, meanwhile, ticked off the same height, as well as 6.05 meters to get the gold. He requested to raise the bar to 6.23 meters for a possible world record but failed.
Only the two earned their Paris Olympics spots in the tournament as Norways’ Pål Haugen Lillefosse and Belgium’s Ben Broeders only cleared 5.72 meters. The Norwegian won bronze via countback.
Last week, Obiena clinched a bronze medal at the Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic.
The Olympian from Tondo, Manila reset the Asian record after reaching the 6.0-meter mark in the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway in June.
Obiena’s next stop will be at the Meeting International de Sotteville in Rouen, France, the second Olympic qualifying event, on July 7, before flyng to Bangkok, Thailand for the Asian Athletics Championship from July 12 to 16.
Source: CNN Philippines Staff | Published Jul 3, 2023 | 2:52:38 AM
