Ernest John “EJ” Obiena expressed confidence that he will return home with the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal next month, after a failed attempt to win it five years ago in Indonesia.
The 27-year-old Obiena said this after challenging Swedish bet Armand Duplantis and strutting away with a silver medal in the men’s pole vault finals of the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday night (early Sunday in Manila).
“My aim is to win (in Hangzhou). That’s the goal,” said Obiena following his runner-up finish to Duplantis.
Obiena talked about his performance in a Facebook post moments after he cleared the 6-meter mark in his second try to secure second place, behind no. 1 and world record holder Duplantis.
Obiena told blogger Airnel Abarra on his social media post that he aims to make a higher jump in the Asiad if he is to claim the gold medal.
The 6’2” Obiena hopes to outperform Japanese bet Seito Yamamoto, who cleared 5.7 meters to snag the Asiad gold back in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Duplantis took the gold medal in Budapest after jumping 6.10 meters in his first try.
The 23-year-old Duplantis then tried to break his own record after failing thrice to clear 6.23 meters.
Obiena went on to match his personal best and the Asian record, but he was not able to get the 6.05-m and the 6.10-m marks he attempted.
Australia’s Kurtis Marschall and American Chris Nilsen settled for the bronze with similar vaults of 5.95-m.
Duplantis said he appreciated the competition he got from Obiena, who proved to be in great shape.
“It’s great. I’m not that disappointed [to miss out on the world record] because it seemed like Chris (Nilsen), EJ (Obiena) and Kurtis (Marschall) were all in very good shape and they’re all guys that can jump six meters,” said Duplantis.
Duplantis even praised Obiena for his effort to go higher against him.
“And for EJ to do that (clear 6.00m), especially on the first attempt puts a lot of pressure on you. You’ve got to really go out there and get it done. I’m glad I was able to do it,” he said.
The big crowd watched in awe and waited as the bar was raised to 6.05 m. This was where Obiena fell short with his first jump, while Duplantis continued on after making it the first time.
Obiena then tried to challenge Duplantis by moving the bar to 6.10 meters.
But Duplantis then sealed the gold medal by flying over the mark on his first jump, while Obiena fell behind after failing with his two final jumps.
“I’m really happy about all these consecutive golds. I don’t know where this one ranks, but I’m happy to keep winning,” said Duplantis.
Duplantis admitted that he felt pressure with Obiena trying to keep up with him and the crowd cheering them on.
“This was maybe the craziest atmosphere I’ve ever competed in so it meant a lot to be able to turn on a pole vault show for them. I felt a bit of pressure as defending champion, but I’m glad to come through it. It feels pretty good to be on top again,” he said.
