EJ Obiena ends gold streak, snags silver in ISTAF Berlin
By Ernest Martin Tuazon
Thomasian pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena put his three consecutive gold streak to rest as he walked away with a silver finish in the ISTAF Berlin meet at the Olympic Stadium in Germany, Sunday evening (Philippine time).
The Filipino Olympian bagged his sixth-straight medal with a 5.81-meter clearance behind the Netherlands bet Menno Vloon who finished slightly above Obiena with a clean 5.88m vault.
Alike his previous competitions in the past two weeks, the 26-year-old pole vaulter begged off from vaulting at the height of 5.35m alongside Aussie athlete Kurtis Marschall, French representative Valentin Lavillenie, and Rutger Koppelaar also from the Netherlands. Meanwhile, Obiena was the lone athlete who skipped 5.51m.
The former Electronics Engineering student at the University began his chase for a fourth-consecutive gold medal with a flawless clearance at the height of 5.61m.
Obiena passed from vaulting at the height of 5.71m, only to follow this up with a two-attempt vault at 5.81m — he was joined by Vloon who also utilized two attempts, and Marschall, who clutched up in his final go.
Surprisingly, Obiena once again skipped the height of 5.88m as he marked his goal to shatter his 5.94m Asian pole vault record. Marschall bid goodbye to the tournament as he missed all of his three tries and this paved way for a final duel between Obiena and Vloon.
At the height of 5.95m, Menno failed on his final attempt, giving way for Obiena to break his Asian record. However, it was unattainable for EJ as he also missed all of his three attempts en route to Vloon being crowned with the gold.
Obiena and Marschall rounded up the podium as they finished in second and third place, respectively.
EJ Obiena looks to continue his medal streak in the next leg of the Golden Fly Series next Sunday, September 11, in Liechtenstein.
