By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipino pole vaulting sensation EJ Obiena lived up to the expectations of the entire nation after clinching another gold medal in the 2022 Southeast Asian Games.
The defending champion easily cleared the 5.40-meter height for his golden leap making him a back-to-back champion at the SEA Games level.
Aside from his gold medal performance, Obiena once again made pole vaulting history after breaking his previous record of 5.45-meters and set the new SEA Games record at 5.46-meters cleared.
Obiena dominated from the get-go and was the clear winner when most of his Southeast Asian rivals couldn’t even get past the 5.45-meter mark while others unfortunately suffered minor injuries.
With the gold medal in the bag and setting the new SEA Games record, Obiena tried to break his Asian and PH record of 5.93-meters.
Obiena failed to break his record and was given three tries during his run. Several months ago, he broke the previous PH record of 5.87 meters during the Paris Diamond League when he cleared the 5.91-meter mark.
For the Asian record, Obiena put his name in the history books after getting past the previous record of 5.92 meters held by Kazakhastan’s Igor Potapovich in 1998 and did it at the 2021 Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria.
“I’m relieved and happy to win the gold. I came here as a favorite and finally delivered. Mission accomplished,” said Obiena.
