EJ OBIENA advanced to the men’s pole vault final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but not before some anxious moments during the qualification round held at the National Stadium.
The 25-year-old Obiena cleared 5.75 meters on his third and final attempt to barely clinch a spot in the medal round. He placed 10th in the qualifying.
Obiena fouled on his first two tries at clearing 5.75, including in the second one where he was unable to make an attempt during the one-minute allotted time limit.
But in a make-or-break situation, Obiena avoided a major collapse as he finally cleared the height to move on to the final to be held on Tuesday.
Prior to the two fouls, Obiena easily cleared 5.50 and 5.65.
EJ Obiena
"Thank you for all your prayers after some nerve wracking moments," wrote Obiena on his Facebook page.
Bo Kanda Lita Bahre of Germany and Christopher Nilsen of the US topped the qualification with 5.75 meters. World record holder and gold medal favorite Armand Duplantis of Sweden and KC Lightfoot of the US were third, also clearing 5.75.
Kurtis Marschall of Australia placed fifth, followed by Renaud Lavillenie of France and Menno Vloon of The Netherlands.
Rio 2016 Olympic champion Thiago Braz was tied for eighth with Emmanuel Karalis of Germany.
Also moving on is Piotr Lisek of Poland, who placed 11th. Harry Coppell of Great Britain, Ersum Sasma of Turkey, and Oleg Zernikel of Germany were in 12th and also made it to the final.
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