ATHLETICS: EJ Obiena completes his trophy case with Asian Indoor gold

At last, the ‘missing piece’ has been found. Olympian and Asian record holder EJ Yu Obiena has finally struck gold in the pole vault event of the 2026 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships on February 7 in Tianjin, China.

Screengrab of photo from EJ Obiena’s Facebook page

Obiena, who has three Asian Athletics Championships golds, an Asian Games gold, and four Southeast Asian Games gold, has found what he described as the 'missing piece.'

Obiena’s first jump of 5.70 meters was enough to secure the gold as Li Chenyang of China failed to match his height in three attempts. Li cleared 5.60 meters for silver while compatriot Chen Yang reached 5.40 meters for bronze.

World Athletics rank Obiena as the current world number 11. His personal best is at 6.00 meters he achieved in 2023 at the Bryggen, Bergen competition in Norway. His highest jump for 2026 is at 5.77 meters last month in the International Jump-Meeting in Germany.