Soaring start for EJ

Pinoy ace rips Mark in Croatia

MANILA, Philippines —  Paris Olympics-bound EJ Obiena was off to a soaring start in the world pole vault indoor season series, capturing the gold in the Memorial Josip Gasparac in Osijek, Croatia Tuesday.

“Indoor season finally kicked off,” said Obiena on his Facebook page, opening his season campaign with a record-breaking vault of 5.83 meters in the Croatia meet.

The World Championships silver medalist and World No. 2 used his experience to shake off some jitters and improve the previous meet mark of 5.72 set by Greek Olympian Emmanouil Karalis a year ago.

Portuguese Pedro Buaro took the silver with a 5.73m while American Olen Tray bagged the bronze with a 5.61m.

And Obiena was just warming up, hoping to be at his best during the Olympics in Paris in July.

Next up for Obiena is the ISTAF Indoor tomorrow at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany.

Then he’ll proceed to Glasgow, Scotland for the World Indoor Championships on March 3.

All this for his ultimate goal – a medal, possibly a gold, in the Olympics.