EJ Obiena surely got back on track quickly.
Fifth-ranked pole vaulter in the world Obiena captured his second title this season after ruling over the 2022 Orlen Copernicus Cup with a height of 5.81 meters on Wednesday morning (Philippine time) at the Arena Sports Hall in Torun, Poland.
The result also equals the current season-best Obiena first set when he took the title in the Orlen Cup just a few days ago and a few meters south in Lodz. This was also where he booked his ticket to the World Athletics Indoor Championships next month in Belgrade, Serbia.
As this tournament is part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold events, the 26-year-old standout also barged into the Tour’s leaderboard with 10 points.
Obiena needed three attempts just to clear this final height, where he barely scraped past the bar. Nonetheless, the other pole vaulters left in Ben Broeders, Thiago Braz, and Menno Vloon could not make it past the bar at all, leaving the Filipino with the win.
Earlier in the day, Obiena also had problems on 5.61. However, he eventually got over the bar with room to spare in his third and final attempt. The reigning Asian outdoors champion just needed one heave each past either 5.41 or 5.71.
Belgium’s Broeders took the early lead but slipped into second place after missing on all those attempts at 5.81, registering a final result of 5.71.
Rio Olympics champion Braz also ended with 5.71, but took third place after count-back against both Broeders and Vloon.
Obiena is set to compete in more tournaments this season in preparation for the World Indoors on March 20 in Belgrade.
