Podium landing for EJ

MANILA, Philippines — It wasn’t the best finish that pole vaulter EJ Obiena had in mind but clearing 5.65m to claim the bronze at the ISTAF Indoor Championships, a World Athletics Tour Silver, in Dusseldorf, Germany, last Saturday was still a creditable first step in his bid to reclaim a top 10 ranking.

Obiena went up against seven vaulters, including three top 10 contenders, and failed to clear 5.70m thrice to settle for third place.  His ranking dropped from No. 2 to No. 11 last year due to health issues.  World No. 5 Menno Vloon of the Netherlands took the gold with a 5.75m jump and tried to clear 5.85m thrice but failed.  World No. 4 Sam Kendricks of the US registered 5.70m to bag the silver after missing 5.75m once and 5.80m twice.  Vloon’s personal best is 5.96m, compared to Kendricks’ 6.06m.  Obiena has cleared 6.00m twice.

The other finishers were World No. 24 Torben Blech of Germany (5.55m), No. 38 Ioannis Rizos of Greece (5.55m), No. 20 Matt Ludwig of the US (5.45m), No. 16 Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany (5.45m) and No. 9 Ersu Sasma of Turkiye (5.45m).  Obiena started by skipping 5.30m and went straight to clear 5.45m once then took two attempts to jump over 5.55m, two tries to clear 5.65m and left after three failed bids at 5.70m.

All eight vaulters fell short of their personal bests.  It could be because of the short indoors runway or early season rust.  “Many of these indoor runways can’t accommodate a full 20 steps,” said Obiena’s adviser Jim Lafferty.  “Dusseldorf was a short runway.  Actually, EJ just set a personal best of 5.70m with 16 steps at the SEA Games.  He’s in good form.”  Obiena has up to March 8 to clear 5.90n in marking the entry standard to qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, on March 20-22.  The same deadline applies for vaulters to qualify through their world rankings which are determined by earned competition points.