Ernest John Obiena was nowhere near his best performance as he took two attempts to clear 5.65 meters and settle for ninth place in the men’s pole vault meet of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday (Monday in Manila).
It was one of Obiena’s three lowest jumps in more than a year, the other two being his gold-clinching 5.65 meters at the 5-6 National Indoor Meeting, Palaindoor in Padova, Italy on Jan. 21, 2023 and a 10th place, 5.64 meters at the Indoor meeting of Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, Arena Stade Couvert, Liévin on Feb. 15, before competitive field that included world no. 1 Armand Duplantis.
That same competitive group of athletes, who were in France last year, were also around in Glasgow over the weekend, with Swedish bet Duplantis getting out of difficult moments to retain his indoor mark with a 6.05-meter clearance.
Team USA bet Sam Kendricks settled for the silver at 5.90 meters on a single try after missing 5.95 and 6.0 meters.
Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis claimed the bronze with 5.85m.
Meanwhile, world No. 3 Chris Nilsen, a silver medallist in the Tokyo Olympics, took fourth with 5.75m.
“Took my chances, but it did not work out. Clearing one bar in the whole competition and coming in 9th place. The reality of sports sometimes. First world indoor championships are in the books as the 2024 indoor season comes to a conclusion,” Obiena wrote in a social media post.
“Thank you everyone who came, watch and screamed their hearts out. I owe you one,” said Obiena.
Overall, the world no. 2 Obiena was way off his best performance of the indoor season.
Last Feb. 20, Obiena leapt to 5.83m to conquer the Memorial Josip Gasparac in Croatia, thereby breaking the games’ record.
Three days later, Obiena was at one of his best in the ISTAF Indoor Berlin in Germany in taking the gold at 5.93 meters.