By MARK REY MONTEJO
EJ Obiena opened his outdoor season on a sad note as he wound up seventh place in the men’s pole vault event of the 2025 Diamond League’s Xiamen leg at the Egret Stadium in China Saturday, April 26.
Less than a month after his gold-medal haul in Taiwan, a well-rested 29-year-old Obiena returned into competition, looking confident to put up an explosive show.
Obiena, however, was not yet ready, though.
He managed to clear only 5.62 meters, which he did after 2nd try. He pursued at 5.72m in the elite 11-man field but failed,
The two-time Olympian tied with Australia’s Kurtis Marschall (6th), and USA’s Sam Kendricks (8th), in terms of their leapt height.
World No. 1 and Paris Games gold medalist Armand Duplantis expectedly ruled the event in 5.92m. The Swedish star also tried to clear 6.01m but he failed.
Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis (5.82) and Netherlands’ Mennos Vloon (5.82) settled for the second and third honors, respectively. The Greek leaper got the silver on account of less attempts.
Belgian Ben Broeders finished fourth followed by Turkish Erus Sasma (5th), Chinese Chenyang Li (9th), and Bokai Huang (10th), and Sondre Guttormsen (DNS).
The Asian Games champion guns for a better finish when he vies in the second leg of the world biggest athletics’ meet which set in Shanghai next month.
