Pole vaulter Obiena shatters Asian mark, secures berth in world tilt
EJ Obiena took his discipline to new heights over the weekend after shattering the 26-year-old tournament record in pole vault at the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Obiena, 23, posted 5.71m to capture the gold medal and eclipse the 5.70m mark of Kazakhstan’s Grigoriy Yegorov at the 1993 edition held in Manila.
He bested reigning champion Zhang Wei and 2016 Asian Indoor winner Huang Bokei, who settled for the silver and bronze medals with identical 5.66m marks.
Obiena's performance was even better than the 5.70m Asian Games record of Japanese Seito Yamamoto in 2018 and blew away the SEA Games mark of Thai champion Porranot Purahong, who registered 5.35m at the 2017 Malaysian edition.
Obiena also eclipsed his own national record of 5.61m which he posted at the Stabhochsprung Classic in Leverkusen, Germany in 2017.
His feat not only earned him a spot at the World Championships also in Doha in September but also bolstered his gold-medal campaign in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games which the Philippines is hosting late this year.
Obiena vaulted his way on top after trailing Zhang and and Huang in the first three attempts.
“When the bar was raised at 5.71 meters, I did not think of anything; I mean, about standards and records. I just concentrated and executed,” said Obiena, 23, in the event’s official website. “Apparently, that helped.”
It was the Philippines’ first gold medal in the Asian championships after Marestela Torres’ long jump triumph in 2009.
Obiena almost exclusively trains with the renowned Vitaly Petrov, mentor of pole vault legend Sergei Bubka, in Italy. (With a report from Nick Giongco)