Filipino athlete EJ Obiena failed to clear any height in the men's pole vault at the Oslo Diamond League on Friday, recording a 'no mark'. This comes after he finished fifth at the FBK Games in the Netherlands where he reached 5.66 meters.
While Obiena failed to score, Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis shone after winning and setting a new meet record of 6.15 meters. According to him, he had been wanting to achieve this record at Bislett Stadium for a long time. “I'm happy, I finally got it,” said the US-born Swede.
Three of the ten competitors including Obiena, Ben Broeders of Belgium, and Sondre Guttormsen of Norway also failed to clear 5.62m. Meanwhile, Duplantis successfully jumped 5.82m and later reached 6.15m on his third attempt, while being cheered on by 15,000 people.
Duplantis admitted that he had stopped at the next height because of the cold weather. But he plans to try to break the world record at the upcoming Diamond League in Stockholm this Sunday. “If I do that, I might retire,” he joked.
Since 2020, Duplantis has participated in 40 Diamond League events and lost only four times, making him one of the most successful in the series. Obiena is expected to make a comeback at the next event at Bauhaus-Galan in Stockholm.
