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EJ Obiena bounces back, finishes second in Norway tilt
EJ Obiena regained his winning ways following a gloomy outing in his previous tournament, capturing the silver medal in the Oslo Bislett Games on Friday morning (Manila time) in Norway.
The 28-year-old Filipino pole vault ace, who was coming off a seventh place finish in the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czech Republic on Wednesday, registered 5.72 meters this time around to wind up second in the nine-man field.
Obiena was joint second with Greek pole vaulter Emmanouil Karalis while KC Footlight of the USA emerged as the gold medalist after soaring past 5.82m-mark.
The win, however, saw Obiena breaking another pole as was his situation during the Ostrava Golden Spike, where he only made his opening bar after his pole broke on match day.
Obiena, however, revealed that Footlight lent him his pole that allowed the Philippine bet to finish the competition and even reach the podium.
"Another pole broken and it's not even on the brighter side of things," Obiena said in a post.
"Very thankful that I am not hurt and I live to fight another day. I'm taking this with a bit of humor but in all honesty, this is not funny at all."
Obiena will look to sustain this momentum as he heads to Stockholm in Sweden for the Bauhaus-Galan leg of the Diamond League.
—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News
