By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Olympian EJ Obiena will be up against world record holder Mondo Duplantis and other world’s best in the 2025 Mondo Classic at the IFU arena in Uppsala, Sweden on Thursday, March 13.
The tournament serves as Obiena’s last indoor event before he focuses his preparations in the outdoor season, where he would be competing in three major events in the Asian Championships in Gumi, South Korea on May 21 to 31, the World Outdoor Championships in Tokyo, Japan on Sept. 13 to 21, and the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand on Dec. 7 to 19.
The world No. 4 Obiena also hopes for another shot at the podium in this indoor gala event after winning bronze via a countback last year with 5.91 meters behind Duplantis (6.10m) and American KC Lightfoot (5.91m).
The Mondo Classic actually serves as a lead-up to the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China on March 21 to 23.
Obiena is not going to China after his failed bid to hurdle the qualifying standard of 5.85 meters during the window period – no thanks to a back injury that needed long time to heal and recover.
Apart from Duplantis, competing in this event are Paris Olympics silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States and bronze winner Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, as well as fellow Olympians Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway, Thibaut Collet and Renaud Lavillenie of France, Ben Broeders of Belgium, and Ersu Sasma of Turkey.
All participants average 5.80m in either their personal or seasonal bests, as well as in their performances at the previous Olympics.
Obiena has a season-best 5.80m he set at the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland last month, but he finished fourth at the Paris Olympics with 5.90m.
The two-time Olympic champion Duplantis owns the world record of 6.27m at the All Star Perche, a World Athletics Indoor Tour silver meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France last Feb. 28.
