The National Stadium in Tokyo continues to haunt pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena.
Four years after missing the podium in the rescheduled 2021 Summer Games, Obiena ended up going home empty-handed after failing to advance to the finals of the World Athletics Championships.
The Italy-based Obiena could only do 5.55 meters.
Obiena actually entered the tournament oozing with confidence after getting a bronze medal in the World Athletics Continental Tour recently in Beijing where he tallied 5.62m.
But the two-time World Championships medalist, failed his first two attempts at 5.70 and used his final try to make it over 5.75 but also fell short of getting over the bar.
With the loss, Obiena’s bid for a third straight podium finish in the biggest athletics meet outside of the Olympics went up in smoke.
The 29-year-old Obiena previously got a silver medal in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon and a silver in the 2023 edition in Budapest, Hungary.
Making the cut were 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, Paris Games silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway, Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Ersu Sasma of Turkey and Menno Vloon of the Netherlands.
Completing the cast are Seifeldin Heneida Abdesalam of Qatar, Ethan Cormont, Thibaut Collet and 2012 London Olympics champion Renaud Lavillenie of France, Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany and world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden, who is heavily favored to make heads turn anew.
Even after missing out on the World Championships final, it isn’t over for Obiena, who was fourth in Paris, just yet.
He could still finish the outdoor season on a high note as he will be competing in the Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge on 21 September in Makati City.
While the likes of Duplantis, Kendricks and Karalis won’t be able to make the trip, Obiena will still have tough rivals to face as Vloon, Sasma, Collet, American champion Austin Miller, former World Championships silver medalist Piotr Lisek of Poland, European Championships bronze medalist Oleg Zernikel of Germany, and Pan-American Games winner Matt Ludwig of the United States make the trip to the Philippines.
With the local competition being sanctioned by World Athletics, Obiena has a chance to earn ranking points that could help him improve from seventh place in the overall ratings.