WHILE pole vault standout Ernest John Obiena resumed his campaign in Europe early yesterday morning (Monday night in Europe), other national track and field campaigners made their presence felt in the Korean Athletics Open and Taipei Open over the weekend.
Fresh from his latest triumph in the Asian meet in Jecheon, South Korea, Obiena jumped 5.66 meters to finish fifth in the FBK Games, a World Athletics continental Gold Tour event at the Fanny Blankers-Keon Stadium in Hengelo, Netherlands.
Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen led a 1-2-3 American finish, ruling the event in 5.82 meters. KC Lightfoot took silver (5.74) while Daniel Keaton and China’s Zhong Tao were tied for third (5.66).
Obiena had one more try at the 5.66 so had to settle for fifth spot, but he won’t have any time to ponder his European comeback since he was set to leave the Dutch city for the 60th Bislett Games, the latest stop of the Wanda Diamond League, in Oslo, Norway, tomorrow.
His hectic three-leg swing this week winds up the BAUHAUS-Galan, another Wanda Diamond League leg, in Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday.
Over at the Yecheon Stadium in South Korea, Willie Morrison was the biggest winner among the national athletics squad members who saw action in the Korean Open, hurling a new season best 18.80 meters for the shot put gold.
Aiming to compete in the World Athletic Championships in Tokyo, Japan in September, Morrison’s throw was 25 centimeters, or nearly 10 inches, more than the 18.55 meters he did when he finished seventh in the Asian meet in the nearby city of Jecheon the previous week.
Back-to-back Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Clinton Kingsley Bautista also had a sterling outing in the Korean Open, setting a season best of 14.0 seconds in securing the silver in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
High Jumper Leonard Grospe completed the trio of Filipino podium finishers, bagging the bronze medal with a jump of 5.95 meters.
Over in Taiwan, Hussein Loraña also achieved a podium finish in the Taipei Open, clinching silver in the men’s 800-meter run in a blazing time of one minute and 48.67 seconds, surpassing the previous 35-year-old mark of 1:48.90 by a Filipino bet in the same meet by now national coach Isidro del Prado.
He was just a heartbeat behind Indonesian Krishan Kumar (1:48.67), solidifying his status as a top gold-medal contender in the event, considering the victorious time of Cambodia’s Chun Buntorn in the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games was only 1:52.91.
