Duplantis gold, Obiena silver in Oregon

MANILA, Philippines — On the night Armand Duplantis raised the bar higher, Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena and the rest of the world were mesmerized by the greatness of the Swedish titan in the Eugene, Oregon leg of the Diamond League.

The Asian record-record holder from Tondo in Manila took the silver with a 5.82-meter clearance and watched as the reigning Olympic champion took the gold and shattered his own world record with a galactic 6.23m.

For a moment, Obiena was the last challenger standing behind Duplantis.

But when push came to shove, Obiena couldn’t clear 6.02m while Duplantis masterfully hurdled it before delivering another performance for the ages with that 6.23m.

American Sam Kendricks took the bronze via count back against Australian Kurtis Marschall and another United States bet Chris Nilsen, who had identical 5.72ms.

It was nonetheless a solid effort by Obiena, a World Championship silver winner who is tipped to dominate the Hangzhou Asian Games field next.