EJ Obiena gets ‘missing piece’ with Asian Indoor Championships gold

MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena’s continental collection is now complete.

The Filipino pole vault star struck gold in the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships for the first time, following his triumph in Tianjin, China, on Saturday, February 7.

Clearing 5.70 meters, Obiena beat home bets Li Chenyang and Chen Yang to add another piece of hardware to his trove which includes gold medals from the Asian Games (2022) and Asian Athletics Championships (2019, 2023, and 2025).

“The missing piece,” Obiena wrote in a social media post showing his newest gold medal. 

Obiena hurdled both 5.50m and 5.70m in a single attempt before missing out on establishing a new season best at 5.80m. 

Li settled for silver at 5.70m, while Chen took bronze at 5.40m. 

It was Obiena’s second victory of the year, after he ruled the Internationales Springer-Meeting Cottbus in January in Germany, where he set a season best of 5.77m. 

“This means way more than just a win for me!” Obiena said. – Rappler.com