Obiena skipping crucial Silesia leg

Ernest John Obiena will not be making the trip to Poland after skipping the Silesia leg of the Diamond League that is set this weekend at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów.

The 29-year-old Filipino pole vault star is not part of the 10-man field bannered by Swedish sensation Armand Duplantis, who will be marching oozing with momentum after resetting the world record of 6.29 meters for the 13th time at the 2025 István Gyulai Memorial meet in Budapest.

Aside from Duplantis, also seeing action in the crucial Diamond League are Paris Olympics bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, Ben Broeders of Germany, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway, Sam Kendricks of the United States, Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Ersu Sasma of Turkey, Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, London Olympics gold medalist Renaud Lavillenie of France and home bet Piotr Lisek.

Obiena last competed in the Stockholm leg in June where he finished in seventh place after clearing 5.70m.

Surprisingly, Obiena is also not in the start list of the final leg in Lausanne on 20 August at the Pontaise Olympic Stadium in Switzerland.

Obiena is currently sitting at the seventh place with 10 points in the overall standings and needs to finish at least in sixth place to qualify in the Diamond League final in Zurich, Switzerland from 27 to 28 August.

The last time Obiena made it to the Diamond League final was in 2023, where he clinched a silver medal after clearing 5.82m.