By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Pole vaulter EJ Obiena, getting better each tournament, matched his national indoor record to clinch the bronze medal in the prestigious Mondo Classic 2023 in Uppsala, Sweden Thursday, Feb. 2 (Friday in Manila).
The world No. 3 Obiena cleared 5.91 meters on his third attempt to settle for the third-place honors behind world record holder and hometown bet Mondo Duplantis and American KC Lightfoot.
Both Obiena and Lightfoot had identical records, but the Filipino bet settled for third after the countback.
Obiena’s feat equaled his performance at the Perche Elite Tour in Rouen, France last year.
He tried to clear 6.00m twice and 6.05m once, but was unsuccessful.
It was Obiena’s third podium finish in his third indoor tournament this year after a gold-medal effort at the Perche En Or in Roubaix, France and a silver finish in the International Jump Meeting in Cottbus, Germany last week.
Duplantis was almost flawless, winning the gold in a new meet record of 6.10m.
The Swedish star attempted to eclipse his world indoor record of 6.20m by trying 6.22m, but failed.
Australian Kurtis Marschall and Norwegian Pal Haugen Lillefosse came in fourth and fifth place with 5.82m, followed by Belgium’s Ben Broeders, France’s Thibaut Collet, American Sam Kendricks, Brazilian Thiago Braz and German Bo Kanda Lita Baehre with 5.67m.
