EJ Obiena breaks Asian and PH record after gold medal finish in Austria

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Another gold, another record broken.

EJ Obiena just keeps on proving that he belongs with the world’s best after setting the new pole vaulting record in both the Philippines and in Asia.

The prized Filipino athlete dominated and won gold medal honors during the recently concluded 2021 Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria with a record-setting 5.93 meters cleared.

Obiena earlier shattered the previous PH record of 5.87 meters during the Paris Diamond League when he cleared the 5.91-meter mark.

This time, in Austria, Obiena had the chance to triple his victory. To win the gold medal, to reset his previous PH record, and break the Asian record.

And he did.

After failing his first two attempts for the 5.93-meter height, Obiena smiled, grabbed his pole, and marched for his final run that ended the streak of Kazakhastan’s Igor Potapovich since 1998 where he scored 5.92 meters.

Obiena had the gold medal under his belt after clearing the 5.80-meter mark but opted to do another run in an attempt to break the two records.

It was also a huge bounce back for the Filipino after ending the Austrian pole vaulting tournament with a 5.30-meter score last year.