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Obiena captures gold in Croatia tilt, sets new meet record

Sports

Obiena captures gold in Croatia tilt, sets new meet record

By Kristel Satumbaga-Villar

At A Glance

World-class pole vaulter EJ Obiena bolstered his Paris Olympics preparations with a gold-medal performance at the Memorial Josip Gasparac in Osijek, Croatia on Tuesday, Feb. 20 (Wednesday in Manila).

World-class pole vaulter EJ Obiena bolstered his Paris Olympics preparations with a gold-medal performance at the Memorial Josip Gasparac in Osijek, Croatia on Tuesday, Feb. 20 (Wednesday in Manila).

Screen Shot 2024-02-21 at 9.41.38 AM.png — EJ Obiena poses with his medal with coach Vitaly Petrov. (EJ Obiena's Facebook)

Though joining the indoor season a month later than some athletes, the 2020 Tokyo Olympian still displayed his experience by clearing 5.83 meters to rule the 10-player field.

His performance also eclipsed the old meet record of 5.72m posted by Greek Olympian Emmanouil Karalis last year.

Obiena skipped the first four heights and started at 5.51m, clearing it with ease, before skipping against 5.61m and 5.68m.

He encountered a brief challenge at 5.73m where he needed two tries, and then went straight to 5.83m to clear it on his first attempt.

He attempted 5.93m with hopes of breaking his own two-year-old national indoor record of 5.91m but was unsuccessful.

“Indoor season finally kicked off... Thank you for having us and putting on a great atmosphere,” Obiena wrote on his social media.

Portugal’s Pedro Buaro clinched the silver medal with 5.73m while United States’ Olen Tray bagged the bronze with 5.61m.

Up next for Obiena will be the ISTAF Indoor on Friday, Feb. 23, where he hopes to eclipse his last year’s performance of 5.82m for silver medal behind world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden (6.06m).

The Berlin tournament, an Indoor Tour Silver type event, is expected to be a springboard for Obiena in his campaign at the World Indoor Championship slated in Glasgow, Scotland on March 3.

This would be the first time that Obiena is competing in the world indoor tilt, which will gather some of the world’s finest pole vaulters.

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