DISASTER STRIKES

Disaster struck as Ernest John Obiena broke his pole en route to a forgettable performance in the men’s pole vault event of the 63rd Ostrava Golden Spike meet in Czech Republic on Wednesday.

Obiena, the No. 2 pole vaulter in the world, rued his missed chances of winning a gold medal after his pole broke right in the middle of the competition, prompting him to register 5.52 meters for a dismal seventh-place finish — his second-worst result of the year.

In a lengthy social media post, the 28-year-old Obiena blamed the misfortune on the logistical issues that he went through before transporting his equipment to the eastern Czech city.

“Los Angeles to Europe flight and poles were not accepted due to full cargo space on the flight,” Obiena said, recalling the logistical nightmare that he went through.

“We had nowhere to put the poles or we just missed the flight. Luckily, there were two Filipinas who helped and got the poles from the check-in counter to the cargo and shipped them to the manufacturer.”

‘Game day! Broke my pole and only made my opening bar.’

“Drove to the airport and checked in with the poles and flew out. Unfortunately, poles were left in the departure airport and can’t be located. Was calling for the whole afternoon trying to find where the poles were in the airport. At 5 p.m. we got word ‘poles were located.’ Booked @gugliettaantonio a flight on 27th to hopefully get the poles to me and got the poles picked up from the airport to the other. Everything went smoothly — or so I thought.”

But the disaster didn’t end there.

“Game day! Broke my pole and only made my opening bar,” the Filipino superstar stressed.

As usual, world record-holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden asserted his might as he cleared 6.0 meters to win the gold medal while Ethan Cormont of France took the silver medal from Ben Broeders of Belgium via countback after posting identical 5.62 meters.

Duplantis, actually, tried to turn the event into a showcase when he eyed a record-breaking 6.25-meter vault. But he failed to reset his own record as the bar brushed his belly on his third attempt.

“I’m happy about the last attempt, it felt quite good. I was actually closer than I thought I was going to be. Gives me confidence going forward,” Duplantis said, adding that the Czech weather was a factor as it was a “a little bit cold and a little bit windy.”

“I’m quite pleased with the jumps, I feel really good on the runway right now.”

Still, Obiena is charging everything to experience as he sets his focus on the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway on Thursday (Friday in Manila) which is part of the prestigious Diamond League.

Aside from Obiena and Duplantis, also in the field are elite vaulters like Sam Kendrick, KC Lightfoot and Christopher Nilsen of the United States, Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, home bet Simen Guttormsen and Thiabut Collet of France.

“Frustrating to say the least and very pissed at the whole debacle. Taking whatever positive I can take on this whole situation and thankfully it seems like I am in one piece,” Obiena said.