FILIPINO pole vault sensation Ernest John "EJ" Obiena bagged a silver medal at the 4th Domspringen Wesel in Germany past Wednesday midnight in Manila.
Obiena cleared 5.75m on his second try, finishing behind French champion Robin Emig, who aced 5.80m.
American Cole Walsh snared the bronze medal with a 5.70m clearance, defeating French Ethan Cormont via countback.
Obiena said exhaustion finally caught up and denied him his 10th gold of the season.
“Rough, rough day and tiredness,” Obiena captioned his Instagram video showing his 5.75m clearance.
“(Tiredness) eventually caught up after 6 competitions this last 14 days. Took too many mistakes at the earlier bars and paid the price. Thank you for the opportunity and awesome setup."
It was a rather subpar performance for Obiena, who surpassed 5.82m to claim the gold at Istaf Berlin last Monday.
Prior to that, the two-time Olympian soared above 5.90m at the Zurich Diamond League on Aug. 27 to qualify for next year's World Championships.
Obiena is preparing for his title defense at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
In 2023, he claimed the gold medal with a meet record 5.90m clearance in Hangzhou, China.
Obiena also owns the Asian record of 6.0m, but he hasn't cleared the height since the 2023 World Championships in Hungary.
