ERNEST John “EJ” Obiena ended the athletics’ 2025 season with his best jump.
And the presence of world-class pole vaulters made this possible when he won the gold medal at the inaugural Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge held at the Ayala Triangle Gardens on Sunday.
“I’m happy and thankful and it wasn’t easy for me,” said the 29-year-old Obiena, who soared to a height 5.80 meters.
Obiena edged France’s Thibaut Collet in the countback, marking his first victory after almost four months.
Taking the gold allowed Obiena to redeem himself from an 11th-place finish in the qualifiers with his 5.55- meter leap at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last week.
“I was at the mercy of people. And I had a good season with these guys, especially in the world championships a few days ago,” added Obiena.
The presence of top pole vault greats like world No. 5 Ersu Sasma (Turkey), No. 6 Menno Vloon (Netherlands), Collet and Piotr Lisek pushed Obiena to his limits during the meet.
Under rainy conditions, Obiena cleared 5.8m on his second attempt, repeating his showing when he defended his Asian Athletics Championships crown in Gumi, Korea, earlier this year.
“I’m happy to have a good comeback at the end of the season. This is the first one (gold) and it just happened,” added Obiena.
Collet, ranked World No. 12, also cleared 5.80m, but had to settle for silver after taking three attempts.
Lisek rounded out the podium with a bronze-medal clearance of 5.60m.
The event drew a world-class field, like no. 13 Ben Broeders (Belgium), no. 14 Austin Miller (USA), no. 16 Oleg Zernikel (Germany), and no. 23 Matt Ludwig (USA). Peter Atencio
