EJ clears 5.9m, gains ticket to worlds

MANILA, Philippines — With his comeback tour in full swing, Filipino pole vault ace EJ Obiena once again soared to 5.90 meters in Zurich and in the process clinched a berth to the World Athletics Championships.

Obiena finished fifth in the stacked Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League in Switzerland Friday (Manila time) as he delivered his second-best mark of the season – just a hair behind his 5.91m in Poland 10 days ago – to secure a ticket to next year’s global meet in Beijing.

The 30-year-old Asian champion saved his best for last, spending all of his three remaining attempts at 6.0 meters in a daring bid to replicate his personal best and prove to the world that he is back.

It didn’t work out as planned, but those three brave tries spoke volumes of where his confidence is at after struggling for much of the past year.

Obiena, who placed seventh with 5.80m in Silesia and sixth with 5.81m in Lausanne prior to Zurich, was edged for fourth via countback by American Chris Nilsen, who also cleared 5.90m.

As expected, reigning world and Olympic champion and world record holder Mondo Duplantis dominated the field with 6.25m, followed by Paris Games bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece with a season-best 6.20m for silver and Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen with 6.0m for bronze.