By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
EJ Obiena successfully kept his steak of podium finishes after bagging the bronze medal during the recently concluded Ostrava Golden Spike pole vaulting competition held in Czech Republic last June 28, 2023.
With another top-three finish, the Filipino pole vaulting superstar now extended his podium streak to five-straight appearances.
Obiena duplicated his bronze medal finish in Norway during the Olso Bislett Games last June 16, 2023, after leaping past the 5.90-meter height in Czech Republic.
The 27-year-old star placed behind two of the most widely-renowned pole vaulters of the current generation, Armand Duplantis of Sweden and Kurtis Marschall of Australia.
Duplantis once again wowed the crowd with another fantastic finish after completing his golden leap in the 6.12-m height.
Meanwhile, Marschall also tallied the same score as Obiena but edged him in the placing when he only needed one attempt to get past the 5.90-m height.
Several days ago, Obiena reset his previous Asian and national record during the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway while also taking home the gold medal.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympian finally overcame the challenge of cruising past the six-meter barrier and has been longing to surpass his 5.94-meter record for over a year now which he did in style after only needing one attempt to make history.
“It all started with a dream to jump over 5m and set the National Record to now be the 24th* person all-time to go over the 6m barrier and the first ever Asian/Filipino,” wrote Obiena on his Facebook account.
