EJ wins silver on borrowed pole

MANILA, Philippines — EJ Obiena broke his pole – again.

This time though, the Filipino pole vault world No. 2 made sure he wasn’t going home disappointed and, with a borrowed pole, snared a silver medal in the Oslo Diamond League in Norway Thursday.

The Asian champion, preparing for the Paris Olympics, wound up tied for No. 2 with five others on identical 5.72 meters. But he and Greek Emmanouil Karalis ended up sharing the silver via count back.

The pair bested American Sam Kendricks, German Bo Kanda Lita Baehre and Dutchman Menno Vloon, who wound up fourth to sixth places.

The United States’ KC Lightfoot copped the gold in 5.82m even if he lent his pole to Obiena, who broke his own midway in the competition that drew nine participants.

Obiena also snapped his pole in the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic a few days before and sputtered to a seventh-place effort.

He thanked Lightfoot for his generosity.