EJ Obiena struggles to clear 5.81m, finishes 8th in Sweden meet

Pole vault ace EJ Obiena struggled to clear 5.81 meters to finish eighth in the Beijer Stavhoppsgala tournament at the IFU Arena in Uppsala, Sweden early Thursday (Manila time).

The Filipino Olympian took two jumps to clear 5.55m.

He was successful in his first try at 5.70m but could not move forward in the competition after failing to pass through the 5.81m.

Olympic champion Armand Duplantis, as expected, topped the tournament with a 6.04m-finish while Americans Christopher Nilsen and KC Lightfoot both cleared 5.92 but 24-year-old Nilsen placed second due to countback.

This is just Obiena's second tournament in 2022 after he opened his season last week with a fourth place finish at the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin, Germany. In the same tournament, Obiena also failed to clear 5.81m.

Obiena now heads to Poland for the Orlen Cup 2022 in Lodz on February 11. — LA, GMA News