EJ Obiena soars to new PH indoor record

Olympic-bound pole vaulter EJ Obiena posted his best performance to date by eclipsing his national indoor record in the Orlen Cup Lodz at the Atlas Arena in Poland early Saturday, Feb. 13.

Obiena cleared 5.86 meters on his third attempt, surpassing his previous indoor mark of 5.80m he performed at the ISTAF Berlin meet in Germany a week ago.

Interestingly, it was also better than his 5.81m national outdoor mark.

He attempted to clear 5.91m but failed.

The 25-year-old PH bet, however, settled for silver behind two-time world champion Sam Kendricks after the American vaulted a similar 5.86m mark on his first attempt.

Reigning Olympic champion Thiago Braz of Brazil finished bronze with a season-best 5.80m.

This was the third time in two weeks that Obiena reset his national indoor record, first at the Karlsruhe World Indoor Tour Meeting in Germany last Jan. 29 where he posted 5.62m, then at ISTAF Berlin with 5.80m.

In his social media post, Obiena thanked his supporters particularly his Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov.