“OBIENA TRIFECTA”: EJ bags third gold in two months after ruling Poland meet

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

There is no stopping EJ Obiena.

After nabbing two gold medals during the Orlen Cup and the Perche en Or tournament, the Filipino pole vaulting sensation secured his third victory in just two months after reigning supreme in the Orlen Copernicus Cup last February 9, 2023, held in Torun, Poland.

Obiena surpassed his two golden leaps after garnering a final score of 5.87 meters and has dominated Poland since claiming gold at the Orlen Cup four days ago.

The 27-year-old superstar hardly broke a sweat during his championship routine, beating Netherlands’ Rutger Koppelaar and Ben Broeders of Belgium who both settled for 5.82 meters.

Obiena shouldered some risks to claim the gold medal when he decided to skip 5.67 meters and 5.72 meters.

The move paid off as Obiena completed the 5.62 meters and the 5.77 meters with a single attempt at each height.

Obiena again skipped the 5.82 meter height and chose to leap over 5.87 meters which he did in two attempts.

The Filipino star didn’t stop when the gold medal was already in his hands and attempted to break the Asian indoor record.

However, Obiena failed when he registered a foul. His last resort was to equalize the 5.92-meter record set last 1998 but again fumbled his last attempt.

It was a stellar campaign for Obiena after ousting all 10 other participants including home bets from Poland and former Olympic title holder Thiago Braz of Brazil.