Heartbreak in Paris: Obiena lands 4th

PARIS – Heartbreak in the pole vault pit.

In a night of incredible feats at the Stade de France Monday, EJ Obiena tried to come up with something of his own but ended up empty, with his last clean vault good for just fourth place.

Long before the night ended in the grand stadium, Obiena was confined down the floor, oblivious from the crowd of over 80,000 letting out a deafening roar as Armand “Mondo” Duplantis flew to the night sky for a record feat.

Pole vault is Mondo’s world.

“The reality of the sport is not every day you’re gonna jump high, unless you’re Mondo,” said Obiena.

The Filipino ace could do just 5.90m in the championship he long waited for, his three failed attempts at 5.95 closing the door on his Olympic medal hope.

“It’s close but not close enough, though,” said Obiena, yielding the bronze to Greek Emmanouil Karalis via the countback tiebreak. The silver went to American Sam Kendricks.

Karalis was perfect until three misses – one at 5.95 and two at 6.00. Obiena, on the other hand, missed a first try at 5.80 before flunking thrice at 5.95 – a heartbreaker for the world No. 2 hoping to medal in his second Olympic appearance.

“Life or sports can be beautiful but at the same time can be brutal,” said Obiena who couldn’t be consoled by his improvement from 11th in Tokyo to fourth in Paris.

“In this meet, what matters is a medal. Fourth place is the same as 11th. I fell short and that’s it,” he said.

Obiena said he’ll take it a day at a time as he decides on his future.

“We’ll see. I will talk to my team, let’s see how’s my health overall, let’s see how it goes if I’m healthy. If it’s not doing any more damage to myself, maybe I will continue the season,” said Obiena, with a season that includes a stop in Manila in September.

“I don’t really know. Right now, I really need to process everything. Let’s see what the days will bring,” he added.

For the Manila event, Obiena is looking to invite all the finalists here. “I think the country deserves that,” he said.

Weeks before the Olympics, he hinted at going through some health problems. But he said he felt fine, and the problem didn’t bother him in the competition.

It’s just about missing 5.95. It’s the