Published February 8, 2021, 12:39 PM
Photo from ISTAF Indoor’s Instagram account
Olympic-bound pole vaulter EJ Obiena captured another gold medal in over a day after ruling the PSD Bank Indoor Meeting in Dortmund, Germany Sunday night, Feb. 7.
The 25-year-old Filipino prevailed over German Oleg Zernikel in a jumpoff at 5.68m after both posted 5.65m on their first attempt in the seven-man competition.
German Torben Blech also posted 5.65m, but settled for bronze after making it on his third attempt.
Despite Obiena’s golden feat, it was a few centimeters lower than his performance at the ISTAF Indoor Meet in Berlin early Saturday, where he cleared 5.80m for the gold medal and a new national indoor mark.
Olympics-bound Obiena snatches another gold medal in Germany
February 8, 2021 | 5:50 pm
TOKYO OLYMPICS-BOUND POLE VAULTER EJ OBIENA of the Philippines won back-to-back gold medals in Germany at the weekend.
TOKYO Olympics-bound pole vaulter EJ Obiena of the Philippines sustained his solid start in the 2021 campaign, winning another gold medal in Dortmund, Germany, on late Sunday (Manila time).
Mr. Obiena, 25, cleared 5.65 meters, tied with Germany’s Oleg Zernikel, before beating the latter in a jump-off with 5.68 meters to claim the top hardware at the PSD Indoor Meeting.
Also clearing 5.65 meters was German Torben Blech, but he needed more attempts to do so, relegating him to third place.
EJ Obiena shatters Philippine indoor pole vault record in Berlin meet
Tokyo Olympics-bound pole vaulter EJ Obiena authored another record-setting performance for the Philippines in a gold-medal performance in Berlin, Germany on Saturday (Manila time).
Obiena cleared 5.80 meters to take first place in the ISTAF Indoor Athletics Meet, erasing the country s previous best of 5.62m he set a week prior in Karlsruhe City, Germany, where he ended up fifth. This is his first medal finish for 2021.
He defeated Germans Torben Blech (5.80m), and Oleg Zernikel (5.72m). Obiena soared to victory after clearing the mark in just one attempt, while Zernikel did it on his second.
Feb 6, 2021
EJ OBIENA notched a new national record again in pole vault when he ruled the ISTAF Indoor Berlin 2021 meet.
Obiena captured the gold medal after registering 5.80 meters in the event, shattering his own mark of 5.62 he set just last week during the Karlshure World Indoor Tour Meeting in Germany.
He finished fifth in that outing in Potsdam, but placed first this time in Berlin.
Torben Blech and Oleg Zernikel of Germany ranked second and third respectively with 5.80 and 5.72 respectively.
The Germany competition is part of Obiena’s preparations for this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo where he has already qualified with Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov training him in Italy.