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Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider EJ Obiena to compete with best of the best in Mondo Classic

EJ Obiena to compete with best of the best in Mondo Classic

Published Mar 9, 2025 04:58 am

At A Glance

  • EJ Obiena will be up against the cream of the crop in pole vault headed by world record holder Mondo Duplantis when he competes in the 2025 Mondo Classic at the IFU arena in Uppsala, Sweden on Thursday, March 13.

EJ Obiena will be up against the cream of the crop in pole vault headed by world record holder Mondo Duplantis when he competes in the 2025 Mondo Classic at the IFU arena in Uppsala, Sweden on Thursday, March 13.

EJ Obiena
EJ Obiena competes with the world's cream of the crop in the Mondo Classic 2025 on Thursday, March 13, in Uppsala, Sweden. (File Photo/AP)

The tournament serves as Obiena’s last indoor event before he focuses his preparations in the outdoor season, where he would be competing in three major events in the Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea on May 21 to 31, the World Outdoor Championships in Tokyo, Japan on Sept. 13 to 21, and the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand on Dec. 7 to 19.

The world No. 4 Obiena also hopes for another shot at the podium in this indoor gala event after winning bronze via countback last year with 5.91 meters behind Duplantis (6.10m) and American KC Lightfoot (5.91m).

The Mondo Classic actually serves as a lead-up to the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China on March 21 to 23, but Obiena failed to qualify and hit the qualifying standard of 5.85 meters during the window period after focusing on recuperating from his back injury he sustained during his training for the Paris Olympics mid last year.

Apart from Duplantis, competing in this event are Paris Olympics silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States and bronze winner Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, as well as fellow Olympians Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway, Thibaut Collet and Renaud Lavillenie of France, Ben Broeders of Belgium, and Ersu Sasma of Turkey.

All participants average 5.80m in either their personal or seasonal bests, as well as in their performances at the previous Olympics.

Obiena has a season-best 5.80m he set at the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland last month, but he finished fourth at the Paris Olympics with 5.90m.

As expected, the two-time Olympic champion Duplantis heads the cast after recently breaking his own world record of 6.27m at the All Star Perche, a World Athletics Indoor Tour silver meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France last Feb. 28.

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