MANILA, Philippines — World No. 12 pole vaulter EJ Obiena registered a season-high clearance of 5.78m to claim the gold medal at the ISTAF Indoor silver-level competition in the Uber Arena, Berlin last Friday evening (yesterday morning, Manila time). It was Obiena’s final attempt to crack the qualifying mark of 5.90m for the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, on March 20-22 and although he failed to make the jump, his overall performance may still bring him to the entry list on the basis of ranking points.
Obiena, 30, took a risk in preserving his energy by skipping the 5.30m and 5.45m bars then cleared 5.60m on his second attempt before bypassing 5.70m to go over 5.78m on his first try. On the way down after clearing 5.78m, Obiena touched the bar which rattled a bit but didn’t fall. He went for 5.83m thrice but couldn’t nail it.
World No. 18 Simen Guttormsen of Norway also recorded 5.78m but settled for silver on countback. He was downgraded for taking two attempts each in clearing 5.45m, 5.60m and 5.70m. World No. 5 Menno Vloon of the Netherlands and World No. 21 Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany shared third place honors with identical jumps of 5.70m. There were eight vaulters in the meet.
Obiena’s feat marked his first solo gold in the European circuit this indoor season. He previously shared first place with Vloon in jumping 5.77m in Cottbus, Germany. Obiena cleared 5.70m to bag the gold at the Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin.
The cut-off to qualify for the World Indoors is today and finishing first in Berlin last Friday was a strong argument for Obiena to squeeze in. Only five vaulters registered at least 5.90m this season, leaving the door open for late wildcard entries. Booking outright tickets to the World Indoors were World No. 1 Armand Duplantis, No. 2 Emmanouil Karalis, No. 3 Kurtis Marschall, No. 8 Sondre Guttormsen and No. 11 Zachery Bradford.