FILIPINO Olympian EJ Obiena dropped one rank lower in the recent World Athletics men's pole vault rankings.

Slowed down by an injury in the past few months, Obiena will start the year as the fourth-ranked pole vaulter in the world.

The 29-year-old Obiena ended 2024 with 1,409 points, trailing Sweden’s Armand Duplantis (1625), USA’s Sam Kendricks (1453), and Greek Emmanouill Karalis (1426).

Duplantis (gold), Kendricks (silver), and Karalis (bronze) are the top three finishes in the in the men’s pole vault event of the Paris Olympics where Obiena failed to make a podium finish.

After the competition, Obiena disclosed that he was dealing with a back injury while vying in the French Capital.

Last October, the Tondo-native Obiena was cleared by his doctor after recovering from a lower back injury.

Making ito to the Top 10 in the recent ranking are American KC Lightfoot (1365), Australian Kurtis Marschall (1361), Turkish Ersu Sasma (1340), Belgian Ben Broeders (1337), French Thibaut Collet (1333) and Chinese Bokai Huang (1329).(CCM)

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• #Filipino Olympian
• #EJ Obiena
• #World Athletics
• #Men’s Pole Vault Rankings
• #Armand Duplantis
• #Sam Kendricks
• #Emmanouill Karalis