Filipino ace EJ Obiena left no doubt who is Asia’s best in pole vault in the recently concluded 20th Asian Games as he defended his Asiad gold in said event without much of a challenge—all while setting a Games record to boot.
For the bemedaled 30-year-old, his Asiad crowning glory was a welcome sight, indeed, a culmination of a comeback one year in the making.
“For me, maybe LA is a little bit too much forward for me. This season has been a sight, a welcome sight to see… the last two years have been rough for me,” Obiena said during Team Philippines’ welcome ceremony at the Century Seafood Restaurant on Monday. “It’s missing the podium in Paris and then in the following years slipping out at the top 10 and then falling as low as 15. This is a comeback season for me. So, for sure, moving forward, I’ll take this as a stepping stone.”
EJ Obiena’s Struggles
As the 2024 Paris Olympics neared, Obiena was viewed as a strong medal contender. However, he fell short of bronze, losing the podium to Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis via countback after both men cleared 5.90m. The Tondo-born pole vaulter was that close to becoming an Olympic medalist, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
It turns out, Obiena’s lumbar spine issue, which first hampered him in 2022, flared up just before the 2024 Paris Games, and it was severe enough that he needed cortisone injections just to compete in the Olympiad. Then, he missed the podium in the most heartbreaking of ways, and the struggles only continued. His back got worse, his form suffered, and his world-class status stumbled.
Coming into that Olympics, Obiena was No. 2 in the world, trailing only the inimitable Mondo Duplantis. After the Olympics, he fell to No. 3, and the downward spiral continued to 2025—up until he dropped out of the top ten and down to No. 15.
EJ Obiena Rises Again
Obiena could’ve taken it easy. He could’ve quit. But he didn’t. He continued to put in the work, and things began breaking his way this 2026. And, incidentally, a golden conquest in Asia—he won gold in the 12th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tianjin, China—might have set the stage for the two-time Olympian’s redemption season.
After that championship, the podium finishes and gold medals kept coming, one after the other. By the time the 20th Asian Games unfurled, he had won nine gold medals already and a bunch of silver and bronze medals as well. With another exhilarating performance in Aichi-Nagoya, he raised his gold total to an even ten.
“Across all competitions this year, I came away with 10 victories. It definitely wasn’t easy and I certainly didn’t win every competition. Nobody does,” Obiena wrote on social media. “These 10 victories mark a successful season. It means more for me than any other season. With all the doubts this is a very welcome outcome.”
EJ Obiena Wants More
It has been a successful season for sure for EJ Obiena—and he’s far from finished. In fact, he sees more on the horizon. A third Olympics in Los Angeles could even be in the offing.
“There’s, I think, a lot of upsides for me for the coming years. Hopefully, come LA, it’s gonna be fun,” he added on Monday. “It’s gonna be good and everyone here, not just the three of us [Asian Games gold medalists EJ Obiena, Carlos Yulo, and Jeus Yape], but everyone who’s gunning [for the Olympics], especially this guy, Eldrew [Yulo] and Victoria [Bossong]. Hopefully we’ll have a big team.”
The Philippines’ very best representing the country in the 2028 Los Angeles Games? That’s the dream, indeed.
