EJ Obiena wins gold at Berlin pole vault event

Filipino pole vault athlete Ernest "EJ" Obiena won the gold at the men's pole vault event at the ISTAF Berlin Athletics Indoor Meeting in Berlin, Germany on Friday.

The 25-year-old Obiena cleared the 5.8-meter mark on his first try, breaking the national record for indoor pole vault yet again.

Torben Blech of Germany placed second (5.80 meters on his second try), followed by Oleg Zernikel also of Germany (5.72 meters).

This was Obiena's new personal best following his performance at the Golden Spike Meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic in September 2020, wherein he cleared the 5.74-meter mark, and at the  Diamond League in Monaco in August 2020, where he cleared 5.7 meters.

In December 2019, he secured the gold medal in men's pole vault at the Southeast Asian Games, clearing the 5.45-meter mark to set a new SEA Games record.

Obiena is the first Filipino to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after clearing 5.81m in a competition in Italy in 2019.  —KG/JCB, GMA News