World No. 14 EJ Obiena was gunning for a third straight gold and fourth straight podium finish at the Fly Athens street pole vault tourney in Greece on Monday. He didn’t get it. He didn’t even land on the podium. Nevertheless, his performance showed there’s plenty to look forward to moving forward.
The 30-year-old Olympian finished just fourth in a field of ten elite pole vaulters but jumped a season-best 5.81 meters—0.9 meter better than the 5.72 meters he scaled to bag gold at the Czesław Cybulski Memorial 2026 in Poland and 0.6 meter higher than the 5.75 meters he cleared to win gold at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open 2026.
That height was also 0.3 meter higher than his previous season-best of 5.78 meters, which he set at the ISTAF Indoor back in May for the championship, and just 0.19 meter away from his personal best of 6.0 meters, which he set at the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway way back in 2023.
Obiena Loses Bronze Via Countback
The first Asian to make it to the elite 6.0-meter club, Obiena nearly got what would have been a fourth straight podium finish—following a silver in Germany, gold in Poland, and gold in Austria—with his mighty effort on Monday. However, he missed out on a bronze medal to hometown bet Emmanouil Karalis via countback.
Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Christopher Nilsen of the United States won gold, while Thibaut Collet of France bagged silver. The two Olympians actually cleared 5.91 meters, but the former won the championship via countback.
Obiena Is Right On Track
Obiena’s near-bronze at Athens comes on the heels of his golden conquests in Poland and Austria just days apart last week. Perhaps not coincidentally, this streak of success has come just a few weeks after the Filipino’s bold move back in June to leave Formia, Italy, where he has trained over the better part of his career, in favor of Athens, Greece.
The move, according to Obiena, is aimed at bringing him back to the level he once was—as high as No. 2 in the world at one point before injuries precipitated a steady but steep decline. Now training alongside international pole vaulters on a daily basis, Obiena is looking primed for a return to elite status, and his performance in his three latest competitions proves it unequivocally.
Now, he just needs to keep soaring to great heights—just as he did years ago.
