AMID his row with the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena scaled another plateau by sharing a personal all-time high of No. 3 in the yearend World Athletics men’s pole vault rankings released last Saturday.
Obiena was tied at the No. 3 spot with American Sam Kendricks and Russian Timor Morgunov, who all cleared 5.93 meters during the European season, with Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Armand Duplantis of Sweden (6.10) and American Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen (5.97) at the 1-2 spots.
Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, the 2012 London Olympic men’s pole vault champion, was at No. 6 (5.92), Brazil’s Tiago Braz and American KC Lightfoot, who both jumped 5.87 meters, were both tied at No. 7 while Poland’s Piotr Lisek, Australia’s Kurtis Marschall and France’s Valentin Lavillenie were tied at No. 9 with a jump of 5.82 meters
The only Asian in the top 10, the Italy-based Filipino athlete cleared 5.93 meters in ruling the Golden Roof Challenge in Inssbruck, Austria last September, shattering the 29-year-old mark of 5.92 set by Kazakhstan’s Igor Potatpovich in a meet in Dijon, France. — Bong Pedralvez
