(Eagle News) – Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena again made history as he beat the world no. 1 and Olympic gold medalist Armando Duplantis of Sweden in a stunning victory that again brought pride and honor to the Philippines.
At Friday’s Diamond League meet in Brussels, Obiena cleared 5.91 meters on the third and final attempt, but Duplantis did not and settled for silver.
Obiena thus broke the legendary Duplantis’ winning streak as the Swede pole vaulter suffered a rare loss.
After the win, Obiena posted: “Made a core memory today. First @diamondleagueathletics win here in @allianzmemorialvandamme with 5.91m.”
Before this, Duplantis had been easily winning the gold in international pole vault competitions, the last at the Lausanne Diamond League pole vault competition staged on the banks of Lake Geneva on August 25, with a winning 6.10m vault achieved on his third attempt.
At that meeting, Obiena placed third after clearing 5.80 meters.
Obiena then won the gold at the St. Wendel City jump in Germany on August 31, his third gold in pole vaulting competitions in Germany.
This is the first Diamond League win for the 26-year old Filipino pole vaulter that had set an Asian record at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon last July. He was the only Filipino and Asian to advance to the finals after he cleared the 5.94-meter mark posting a new Asian record.
That meeting was also ruled by Duplantis after he cleared 6.21 meters, setting a new world record.
But at Friday’s Diamond League meet in Brussels, Duplantis failed to clear the 5.91 meters even on his third attempt.
US pole vaulter and world number 2 Chris Nilsen finished third in Brussels. Nilsen was also the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist and the silver medalist at the Oregon meet.
The last time that Duplantis settled for a silver was at the World Championship in 2019 at Doha, Qatar.
(Eagle News Service)