Peter Jandrei Melan

Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena placed seventh at the Monaco leg of the Wanda Diamond League on Friday (Saturday, Philippine time), clearing 5.72 meters at the Stade Louis II.

Photo Courtesy of AFP.

Obiena, the current Asian champion and world No. 4, managed to sail over 5.47m and 5.62m on his first attempts, but struggled at 5.72m and needed all three tries to advance. He ultimately bowed out after failing to clear 5.82m, the next height.

He tied with Dutch vaulter Menno Vloon in height, but Vloon placed sixth via countback after only two attempts at 5.72m.

The event was once again ruled by world record holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis of Sweden, who cleared a season-leading 6.05m to claim the gold and set a new meet record. Duplantis then raised the bar to 6.29m, aiming to break his own world record of 6.28m set in Eugene, but failed in three attempts.

Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis secured silver with a 5.92m clearance, edging Australia’s Kurtis Marschall on countback. Both failed at 6.00m.

Obiena’s seventh-place finish in Monaco marked his fourth consecutive meet without a podium finish since winning the gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, in May. He placed fifth in Hengelo (5.66m), registered a no-height in Oslo, and finished seventh again in Stockholm.

With the World Athletics Championships set for September in Tokyo, Obiena has time to regain form and refocus for a critical stretch of the season.

In other events, American sprint star Noah Lyles won the 200m in 19.88 seconds, narrowly beating Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo (19.97). In the women’s 100m, Saint Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred clocked 10.79 seconds to beat Jacious Sears of the United States (11.02).

With reports from Agence France-Presse, ABS-CBN News, and The Philippine Star.