Ernest John “EJ” Obiena enjoyed his time at Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, the 11th leg of the 2022 Diamond League on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Obiena finished with a bronze medal after clearing 5.8 meters behind gold medallist Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, who set a meet record of 6.10 meters.
Obiena took the height in two attempts and missed 5.9 meters in three afterwards during the competition that was held as a street event in the city.
This time, Obiena’s main rival Chris Nilsen of the United States, settled for the silver, after also soaring to 5.8, but in just one attempt.
Prior to the tournament, Obiena had fun clinic teaching kids how to vault.
“Yesterday, I had the honor of teaching kids how to pole vault thru Ubskidscup and the day after, a fun competition along the port of Lausanne. Came out with 3rd and a 5.80m clearance. Now we rest and head to the next one,” said Obiena in a message on Instagram.
Obiena heads for his next meet in Leverkeusen, Germany on Sunday.
Duplantis improved the meet record by 3cm when he went up to 6.10m on his third try.
Pole vault great Sergey Bubka, whose record was broken by Duplantis last July, was around to cheer everyone on.
Earlier, Obiena cleared 5.81 meters to rule the Internationales Stabhochsprung-Meeting in Germany on Tuesday (early Wednesday morning, Manila time).
