Obiena hits snag, finishes 10th in Zurich

MANILA, Philippines – Even the best falls sometimes.

In EJ Obiena’s case, it came in one forgettable Friday in the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland, where he had one of the worst, if not the worst, performances in recent years.

The World No. 2 was far from his usual electric self, fumbling to 5.60 meters and a shocking 10th and last place finish — his worst since winding up 11th in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.

Intriguingly, the 5.60m was lower than the 5.65m Obiena had in topping last May’s Phnom Penh Southeast Asian Games, where he also set a new meet record.

It was also the first time the Asian record-holder failed to make it to the podium in this year’s outdoor season in a scintillating stretch where he made the mythical six-meter club, claimed a seat in next year’s Paris Games and captured the country’s first World Championship silver in Budapest, Hungary just a week ago.

It ended in Zurich, where everyone had the realization that Obiena is still human after all.

Expectedly, Swedish titan Armand Duplantis was nothing less than indomitable as he effortlessly ruled the event with a 6.0m.

American Sam Kendricks took the silver with a 5.95m while another United States bet KC Lightfoot snared the bronze after he edged France’s Thibaut Collet and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, who had similar 5.85ms, via count back.

Duplantis though had his rare share of low moments that included Obiena outperforming him twice.

But expect Obiena to just shrug off those bumps in the road and refocus on his ultimate goal of delivering a first Olympics medal since Miguel White’s 400m hurdles bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games.