Racking ‘em up: Obiena bags another gold, this time in Poland

EJ Obiena, here seeing action in the Mondo Classic last week, pockets a second gold medal in seven days and will take sharp form into the Copernicus Cup in two days. —AFP FILE PHOTO

Forced to stay and compete in Europe and not gun for a title in his continent, EJ Obiena is certainly making the most of it.

The 27-year-old from Tondo in Manila scooped up another gold medal on Sunday after clearing 5.77 meters in the 2023 Orlen Cup in Lodz, Poland, which downplays the great form Obiena is in that, shamefully, he cannot bring to the Asian Athletics Indoor Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, because of a travel snafu.

Planes going to Kazakhstan cannot carry his poles, and Obiena has come away with medals after four events in the Euro indoor season—silver and bronze in Germany and Sweden, respectively, and another gold in France—to sort of make up for his absence in the Asian championships.

Obiena cleared 5.82 meters in his victory in France, and just missed the silver in Sweden when he failed at 6.0 meters that would have broken a tie with KC Lightfoot of the United States.

He has now set his sights on the Copernicus Cup in Torun, also in Poland, where he will endure a shorter travel time compared to his trip from Sweden for the Mondo Cup to Lodz.

“Now, we rest and recover for the Copernicus Cup on the eighth of February. Traveling from Sweden to Poland was not easy at all,’’ Obiena posted on his Facebook page after turning back Sam Kendricks of the United States and Poland’s Piotr Lisek.

Kendricks and Lisek both cleared 5.70 meters, but the American won the silver via a countback.

“Happy to take the win here in Lodz. It was a difficult battle, both physically and mentally,’’ said Obiena as he looks ahead toward recuperating from a tiring week with a two-day respite before the Copernicus Cup.

Obiena was supposed to spearhead the national track and field team in the Asian Indoor on Feb. 10 to 12. The event was also supposed to be a preview of Obiena’s Asian Games gold-medal campaign in Hangzhou, China, in September.

The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association said Obiena was forced to skip the Asian indoor due to logistical challenges since his poles cannot be accommodated by the smaller aircraft going to Astana.

The Orlen Cup triumph somehow eased the disappointment since Obiena has been piling up those medals anyway.

Three days ago, Obiena managed to tie his personal and national indoor mark of 5.91 meters at the Mondo Classic, a tournament named after Armand Duplantis, in Uppsala, Sweden, following a golden effort at the Perche En Or in Roubaix, France, his first title of the year.

Counting his second-place finish during his indoor season opener at the Internationales Springer Meeting in Cottbus, Germany, Obiena has already collected a total of two golds, one silver and a bronze and another one at the Copernicus Cup isn’t far behind.

It has been a remarkable effort for Obiena, considering the travel he had to endure—16-hour ride of nearly 1,500 kilometers from Uppsala. INQ