MANILA – Filipino pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena showed he is unbothered by all the issues at home. He topped the 2022 Orlen Copernicus Cup on Tuesday (Wednesday in the Philippines) at the Arena Sports Hall in Torun, Poland.
Obiena’s win came a day after the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association announced that he was not part of the pool so far for the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games this May.
The 26-year-old Obiena, currently the No. 5 ranked pole vaulter in the world, notched his second championship this year by hurdling 5.81 meters.
The former University of Santo Tomas athlete’s jump also equaled his season best which he set when he took the title in the Orlen Cup just a few days ago in Lodz.
As this one-day tournament is part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold events, the 6-foot-2 Obiena also barged into the Tour’s leaderboard with 10 points.
The Filipino pole vaulter struggled reaching his game-winning leap in the competition. He needed three attempts before clearing the 5.81 meters.
Luckily, however, Obiena’s competitors left in Ben Broeders, Thiago Braz, and Menno Vloon failed to clear the 5.81 meters, handing the championship to the Pinoy.
In the early part of the competition, Obiena also had problems on 5.61. However, he eventually got over the bar with room to spare in his third and final attempt.
Obiena, who is set to compete in the World Athletics Indoor Championships next month in Belgrade, Serbia, just needed one heave each past either 5.41 or 5.71.
Broeders finished runner up to Obiena with 5.71 meters despite having the early lead in the competition.
Rio Olympics champion Braz also ended with 5.71, but took third place after count-back./PN
