By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Pole vaulter EJ Obiena captured his second gold medal in the outdoor season after ruling the Raiffeisen Austrian Open Eisenstadt at the Leichtathletikarena in Eisenstadt, Austria on Thursday, July 2 (Philippine time).
The two-time Olympian overcame the windy conditions to clear5.75 meters and the clinch the gold. His winning effort was his outdoor performance so far, bettering the 5.74m he posted at the Flight Circus event in Dusseldorf, Germany last month.
It also reset the two-year-old meet record of 5.74m posted by American Austin Miller
Great Britain’s Owen Heard bagged the silver on countback after he and Czech Republic’s Dan Barta both cleared 5.55m.
“After many, many, many runs and third attempts, we needed to call it a night after 11 p.m. Thank you very much for having (me),” Obiena wrote on social media.
The win was also Obiena’s second straight gold medal after topping the Czeslaw Cybulski Memorial in Poznan, Poland three days back.
Obiena skipped the first three heights and went straight to 5.45m, which he cleared with ease. He passed 5.55m and went for 5.65m, needing three tries to clear it.
He cleared the winning height of 5.75m after three attempts.
