EJ Obiena bags sixth gold this 2026 in Germany
EJ Obiena's 2026 season is shaping up to be an exciting run, as he won the gold at the first International Pole Vault Meeting in Halberstadt, Germany.
On Aug. 1 (Philippine time), the 30-year-old Filipino, the world no. 14, cleared 5.76 meters on his first attempt, besting nine other athletes, including rising star world no. 16 Cole Walsh of the US and world no. 20 Seifeldin Abdesalam of Qatar.
Abdesalam finished second with a 5.6m clearance, while Walsh bagged third with 5.56 m.
Obiena attempted to clear 5.90m but failed after three attempts.
"Thank you Halberstadt for the wonderful time!" Obiena wrote in a social media post. "What a beautiful venue with [an] amazing crowd. Happy to get the [gold] with [5.67m]."
The win is Obiena's sixth gold of the year, after winning the top prizes in the Internationales Springer-Meeting Cottbus in January, the Asian Indoor Championships in February, the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin in March, the Czeslaw Cybulski Memorial in Poland in June, and the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in July.
The win also comes a month after he changed coaches. Obiena is now training in Athens, Greece under Marcin Szczepanski, who also has world no. 2 Emmanuel Karalis under his wing.
"I'm excited to join Manolo (Karalis) in Athens," Obiena said in a June 12 Philippine STAR report. "He's not only a good friend, but he has emerged as inarguably one of the top two vaulters in the world. I will need to dig deep to try and keep up with him every day. This is a win-win situation and I'm confident we'll see the payout in coming competitions."
American sports patron Jim Lafferty earlier said that Vitaly Petrov, Obiena's former coach, remains a consultant to the Pinoy pole vaulter.
"Everyone wants the best for EJ. Coach Vitaly seemed to recognize that perhaps after 10 years, EJ needs a fresh outlook," he said.
Under Petrov, the Pinoy Olympian reached the world no. 2 ranking.