Obiena cops first title of year in France

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This is EJ Obiena of Team Philippines posing during the medal ceremony for the Men's Pole Vault on day ten of the Oregon22 World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field on July 24, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.

Ernest John Obiena-AFP

Ernest John Obiena got his indoor season on the upswing after claiming gold at the Perche En Or in Roubaix, France on Sunday.

Even though the Philippine pole vaulting idol achieved the feat without her fiercest competition, Obiena’s 5.82m effort is proof that she is slowly making her way back to the top of her game.

The world number 3 vaulter opened his indoor campaign by clearing 5.77m at the 2023 International Springer Meeting last Thursday in Cottbus, Germany, for silver, just behind the 5.82m of Sam Kendricks of the United States.

A pair of podiums will be Obiena’s measure for the upcoming Asian Athletics Indoor Championships from February 10 to 12 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as she has clashed with similar competitors at the Cottbus and Roubaix tournaments.

China’s Huang Bokai saw action at the International Springer Meeting, but ended up moving up the standings after just 5.50m.

In Perche En Or, China’s Yao Jie placed second behind Obiena with a distance of 5.75m, and Bokai was eighth with a distance of 5.40m.

Have a choice

The abundance of tournaments during the indoor season allows the world’s best boxers such as Olympic gold medalist and world champion Mondo Duplantis, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Christopher Nilsen of the United States and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic gold medalist Thiago Braz to choose from a variety of various races.

Among the indoor meets he can participate in are the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland, on February 8 and the Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais Meeting in Lievin, France, on February 15.

These tournaments have been calendared according to the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold 2023, including the World Indoor Tour Madrid on February 22.

More than clinching Asian indoor gold, Obiena will be keen to break his own Asian indoor record of 5.93m set at the 2021 Golden Roof Challenge in Austria where he broke the 23-year-old standard of 5.92m set by Kazakhstan’s Igor. Potapovich.

While the 2024 Paris Olympics remains Obiena’s main goal, the 27-year-old from Tondo, Manila, can return to the Summer Olympics in two ways, through the entry standard or through the World Athletics rankings at the end of the Olympics. qualifying period. INQ

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