THE Philipines’ pole vault sensation EJ Obiena captured a second straight gold and recorded his season-best at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open recently.
The 30-year-old Olympian successfully cleared 5.75m on his third attempt after clinching the title at 5.65m also on his third try, beating Great Britain’s Owen Heard and Czechia’s Dan Barta, who both ended up at 5.55m.
Heard and Barta failed in all of their three attempts at 5.65m, giving Obiena the victory. Heard won via countback over Barta as he cleared 5.55m on his first try.
The windy conditions at the venue really affected not only Obiena but also his fellow competitors.
“5.75m here at Eisenstadt, for the W and new stadium record. After many many many runs and 3rd attempt makes, we needed to call it a night after 11pm. Thank you very much for having,” Obiena wrote on his social media accounts.
Obiena surpassed United States’ Austin Miller’s previous meeting record of 5.74m he set two years ago.
The meet was a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event.
Next up for Obiena is the Fly Athens, a street pole vault meet at the Panathenaic Stadium in Greece.
It was Obiena’s second straight victory this season after topping the Memorial Czeslawa Cybulskiego meeting for the second time in three years in Poland last Sunday with 5.72m.
