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Manila Bulletin

Sports

EJ Obiena bags first gold of the indoor season

Sports

EJ Obiena bags first gold of the indoor season

By Reynald I. Magallon

At A Glance

To the tune of Filipino rap song 'Bagsakan' — with every beat playing in synchrony to his strides — EJ Obiena soared to a season-best leap and claimed his first gold in the indoor season at the International Springer-Meeting held in Cottbus, Germany on Thursday, Jan. 29.

To the tune of Filipino rap song ‘Bagsakan’ — with every beat playing in synchrony to his strides — EJ Obiena soared to a season-best leap and claimed his first gold in the indoor season at the International Springer-Meeting held in Cottbus, Germany on Thursday, Jan. 29.

After clearing just 5.65 meters in a bronze-medal finish in his last competition, the Filipino pole vault star cleared 5.77m on his second attempt to actually share the gold with Menno Vloon of the Netherlands.

Vloon and Obiena were actually tied at the end of the competition after the former also needed two tries to go over the bar at 5.77m. They tried to go for the 5.82m height but the two failed.

A jump-off was supposed to decide the winner of the contest but the meet officials prompted to declare the two as co-gold medalists.

Still, it was an encouraging sign for Obiena, who seemed to be finally beginning to find his form and once again jump near the 6.0m mark.

“First win of the season with a new season’s best of 5.77m. Brick by brick we build. Thank you @springermeeting_cottbus and the amazing crowd for making this evening one to remember," wrote Obiena in an Instagram post.

“Brought one of my childhood beats (mga kantahan sa jeep) here in Cottbus and got the crowd vibing to @parokyaniedgar," he added.

American pole vaulter and meet defending champion Sam Kendricks finished third via countback after needing three attempts to clear the same 5.77m height.

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