Obiena clears season best in Poland
The 28-year-old vaulter captured his second gold medal of the outdoor season after clearing a personal year-best 5.97 meters in the 10-man tournament under the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold.
Daily TribuneThe 28-year-old vaulter captured his second gold medal of the outdoor season after clearing a personal year-best 5.97 meters in the 10-man tournament under the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold.
EJ Obiena is looking good ahead of the Paris Olympics after capturing gold in the 6th Irena Szewińska Memorial tourney Friday in Poland.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF EJ OBIENA/FB
Pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena is on pace to reach his peak heading into the Paris Olympics.
Using his new sets of poles, Obiena showed a glimpse of what he could do ahead of the Summer Games next month after ruling the 6th Irena Szewińska Memorial Friday at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
The 28-year-old vaulter captured his second gold medal of the outdoor season after clearing a personal year-best 5.97 meters in the 10-man tournament under the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold.
Obiena seemed to have rediscovered his groove following a series of setbacks including a couple of snapped poles that halted his momentum after starting the year right with a top podium finish in the Los Angeles Grand Prix.
The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association came to Obiena’s rescue by providing a new set of poles. He repaid PATAFA’s lifeline with a golden finish.
Emmanouil Karalis of Greece settled for a silver medal after hitting his personal best of 5.92m while home bet Piotr Lisek took the bronze medal after going over 5.75m.
World champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden and American pole vaulters Lightfoot, Sam Kendricks and Tokyo Games silver medalist Christopher Nilsen skipped the tournament.
Before his third medal finish of the year, Obiena struggled to get his numbers due to the misfortunes of his poles breaking during competitions.
It started in the 63rd Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic last 28 May where one of his poles split in the middle of the tilt as he finished in seventh place with just a 5.62m clearance.
The world no. 2 ranked vaulter had to borrow poles after one of his broke at the Oslo Bislett Games in Norway last 31 May.
Using loaned poles from KC Lightfoot of the United States and Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, Obiena jumped over 5.72m to take silver.
He again fell to seventh place in the BAUHAUS-GALAN tournament in Sweden last 3 June after going over 5.70m despite getting a respite from incidences of broken poles.
After a two-day rest in Poland, Obiena straps his track shoes back to compete in Poznan on 23 June.
“Now some much-needed rest and we go again to Poznan on the 23rd!” Obiena wrote on his Instagram.
