THREE DAYS after his 10th-place finish in Zürich, Thomasian pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena regained his form and ruled the Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) Outdoor Berlin in Germany on Sunday, Sept. 3.
Obiena, the world No. 2 pole vaulter, cleared 5.92 meters in his third attempt, marking his first-ever gold medal in the outdoor edition of the tournament.
Obiena bested Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen and United States’ KC Lightfoot, who both failed to clear similar heights after exhausting all of their attempts.
Guttormsen surpassed 5.82 meters to take home silver, while Lightfoot eclipsed the same mark but settled for bronze via countback.
Obiena vaulted 5.52, 5.72, and 5.82 meters to stay ahead of Guttormsen and Lightfoot. He succeeded in one try in the 5.52-meter and 5.82-meter bars, while he used his second attempt to clear 5.72 meters.
Vying to break his personal best of 6.0 meters, Obiena tried to leap the 6.01-meter bar but failed in three tries.
This is Obiena’s best finish in the ISTAF outdoor pole vault tournament since 2022 where he won silver after his 5.82-meter clearance. In 2021, he missed the podium after Lightfoot eked out a bronze via countback.
On Aug. 31, Obiena landed at tenth place in the World Diamond League in Zürich Switzerland after only clearing 5.60 meters.
