EJ Obiena reigns supreme in the 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

EJ Obiena is off to a rousing start in his international tournament calendar after bagging the gold medal during the recently concluded 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships on Feb. 7, 2026, in Tianjin, China.

Fresh off his first gold medal campaign at the International Jump-Meeting in Germany, Obiena picked up where he left off, edging home bets Li Chenyang and Chen Yang to stand tall in the middle of the podium.

Obiena cleared 5.70 meters to nab his second gold of the year, needing only one attempt to replicate the exact winning height he achieved during the Southeast Asian Games last year.

Just like his mano-a-mano duel with Thailand’s Amsamarng Patsapong in the 33rd SEA Games, Obiena also figured in a slugfest with Li, who briefly took a slight lead after completing the 5.60-meter mark.

Obiena skipped that height right after clearing 5.50 meters, a crucial decision that led to his triumph as he directly stamped his next attempt at 5.70 meters.

Confident enough to surpass the hurdle, Obiena bagged the golden 5.70-meter leap in a single attempt, a feat that Li failed to do as he used all three tries to settle for the silver medal with 5.60 meters.

Despite being assured of winning the gold, Obiena decided to go for 5.80 meters, but the Filipino pole vault superstar failed all three of his attempts.

Before his winning leaps at 5.50 meters and 5.70 meters, Obiena easily cruised past 5.20 meters and 5.40 meters to quickly take the lead in the race.

Obiena is currently on a hot streak, winning three consecutive medals in the first three major pole vaulting competitions he joined.

He kicked off his 2026 campaign with a bronze at the 6th ISTAF Indoor Dusseldorf, followed by back-to-back golds in Germany and now China.

Minimal fixes made: Corrected the caption credit formatting (italicized in parentheses), changed “which” to “that” for a restrictive clause, replaced “consumed” with “used” for clearer sports copy, and tightened “failed all of his three attempts” to “failed all three of his attempts” for grammar.