“I haven’t been up here for some time.”
That is what Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena said after he successfully logged a new record at the Golden Sand meet at Promenada Gwiazd in Międzyzdroje, Poland.
There, the 30-year-old was able to clear 5.91-meter bar, which earned him a new meeting record.
“Thank you very much Golden Sand for having me. Happy to finally be back over a 90 bar,” EJ wrote.
In a succeeding post that contained a video of his record-making jump, the two-time Olympian shared in the caption: “Step by step.”
Aside from setting a new record, it is the first time that he was able to clear beyond the 5.90-meter mark in any competition since 2024.
The cherry on top is him getting a gold medal, where he was joined on the podium by Qatari pole vaulter Seifeldin Abdelsalam, who settled for silver with 5.75 meters, and Cole Wash, landed a bronze after clearing 5.70 meters.
Prior to this, EJ also brought home a gold medal after joining the Stabhochsprung Meeting in Jockgrim, Germany earlier this August.
He also took another gold from the Halberstadter Hohenflug competition in Germany. That followed his prior medals he garnered from Czeslaw Cybulski Memorial in Poland Cottbus, Germany (which he shared with Menno Vloon), the Asian Indoor Championships in Tianjin, China, the ISTAF Indoor contest in Berlin, Germany.
