EJ Obiena finishes 10th in France tilt

EJ Obiena crashed to his worst performance of the season after finishing 10th in the Meeting Hauts-De-France tournament in Lievin, France on  early Friday (Manila time).

The Filipino pole vaulter barely managed to clear the 5.61meter-mark after it took him three attempts to move on to the next level. However, the 26-year-old Olympian formally bowed out of the competition after failing to register 5.71m.

Before that, Obiena easily surpassed 5.51m after he decided to skip 5.36m.

Topping the tournament was Chris Nielsen after the American hurdled 5.91m while Brazil’s Thiago Braz and the Netherlands’ Menno Vloon copped silver and bronze, respectively, after jumping 5.81m.

This slumped Obiena to his lowest ranking since opening his season last February 5 with a fourth-place finish in the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin, Germany which was then followed by an eighth-rank result in the Beijer Stavhoppsgala tournament last February 10.

His best finish came when he ruled the Orlen Cup in Lodz, Poland.

He will fly back to Poland on February 22 to compete in the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun with hopes to improve his campaign.

—JMB, GMA News