By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – Filipino pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena’s gold medal streak ended after settling for a bridesmaid finish in the Das Internationale Stadionfest Berlin (ISTAF) 2022 tournament on Sunday night in Berlin, Germany.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s pole vault campaigner failed to wrest his fourth consecutive gold medal triumph. He finished with a silver medal for his 5.81-meter performance.
The 6-foot-2 Obiena was actually ahead of the race after the 5.81-meter but he opted to skip the 5.88-meters, which was easily cleared by eventual gold medal winner Menno Vloom of the Netherlands.
Obiena and Vloom then went head-to-head in the 5.95-meter mark but both pole vaulters struggled to clear in their three attempts, which gave the latter the gold medal in the competitions.
Kurtis Marschall of Australia was tied with Obiena with a 5.81-meter mark but it was the Filipino who was awarded with the silver medal following a count back. The Australian settled for bronze.
“I had a fun competition in Berlin, Germany. Came out with a silver medal and a 5.81-meter clearance. Now we rest and head to the next one,” Obiena said in a Facebook post.
It was the sixth consecutive podium finish for the former University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers men’s pole vault standout after capturing four golds and a bronze in his previous tournaments.
Obiena first captured a gold medal in the Stabhochsprung Meeting in Jockgrim on Aug. 23 before settling for a bronze medal finish when he lost to world No. 1 Armand Duplantis of Sweden in the Athletissima event in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Last week, the 26-year-old Obiena took home three consecutive gold medals in the True Athletes Classics in Leverkusen and St. Wendel City Jump, both in Germany and in Brussels Diamond League in Belgium, where he defeated Duplandis.
The Filipino-Chinese pole vaulter will have a few days of rest before finishing his busy European schedule at the Golden Fly event in Schaan, Liechtenstein on Sept. 11 (Sept. 12 in the Philippines)./PN
