Ernest John Obiena will have at least two more chances in February to hit the 5.90-meter entry standard to join the World Athletics Indoor Championships from 20 to 22 March.
The 30-year-old Obiena is set to join the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais at the Arena Stade Couvert de Liévin in France and the ORLEN Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland on 22 February.
Obiena is coming off back-to-back tournaments where he won the gold in the 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tianjin, China last Saturday and clinched the bronze medal in the INIT Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany where he cleared 5.70m last Monday.
The Italy-based pole vaulter said back-to-back tournaments were a challenge for him as he competed in two different continents in a span of 24 hours.
“Running on airplane food and a couple hours of shut eye. Thankful and blessed to walk away with the bronze here at Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe,” Obiena said in a social media post.
“Definitely the toughest back to back I have ever done and hopefully would ever do.”
Obiena needs to clear the entry standard of 5.90 meters on or before 8 March to earn a spot in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland.
However, hitting the entry standard will be easier said than done as he will be going up against the best pole vaulters in the world.
For one, Paris Olympics bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece will be competing in the French tilt as well as Sam Kendricks of the United States, Menno Vloon of the Netherlands and world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden.