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Philippines
Thursday, February 20, 2025
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Philippines
Thursday, February 20, 2025

Obiena bags silver in return to competition

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Ernest John “EJ” Obiena is slowly shaking off the rust out of his system and getting back into the groove following a four-month break.

The 29-year-old Obiena was far from his best in the last two years, but his leap of 5.65 meters on his first attempt earned him a silver medal at the International Jump Meeting Cottbus in on Thursday in Germany.

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Obiena, whose world ranking has fallen no.4 after rising to as high as no. 2 last year, then beat Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (Germany) and Ben Broeders (Belgium) via countback.

American Sam Kendricks, the silver medalist at the Paris Olympics, took the gold medal with a leap of 5.75m.

He sought to clear 5.75 meters to be at par with Kendricks, but Obiena missed out on all his three tries at that height.

It was Obiena’s first meet since the Paris Olympics last August, after he withdrew from his remaining competitions for the rest of the year.

Obiena decided to return home and seek medical assistance for his bothersome back injury that hounded him during the Olympics and sidelined him from his remaining stints in the 2024 Diamond League series.

He was eventually diagnosed with a “fractured L5 vertebra” and cleared to train last October.

Obiena’s performance serves as a warmup for his coming major events, which include the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China this March.

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