MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena defended his men’s pole vault throne in the Asian Athletics Championships with another record-breaking performance at the National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday, July 16.

Obiena set a new meet record of 5.91m as the Philippines won multiple gold medals in the Asian championships for the first time in nearly four decades after Robyn Brown clinched the women’s 400m hurdles crown a day prior.

The last time the country captured multiple titles in the continental tiff was in 1987, when late sprint queen Lydia de Vega reigned in both the women’s 100m and 200m races.

Ranked No. 3 in the world, Obiena proved he is a cut above the rest in the Asian level.

By the time his contenders Hussain Assem Al-Hizam of Saudi Arabia and Huang Bokai of China bowed out after both failing at 5.61m, Obiena showed he was just getting started as he surpassed 5.66m in just a single attempt.

The 27-year-old from Tondo then cleared 5.80m in one try to shatter his previous Asian championships mark of 5.71m he set in 2019 before he established a new record by leaping past 5.91m after two vaults.

Pushing himself to the limit as looks to make a splash in the Paris Olympics one year from now, Obiena set out to break his Asian record of 6.00m by going for 6.02m but to no avail.

Al-Hizam bagged silver with 5.56m, while Huang edged Japan’s Tomoya Karasawa for the bronze via countback with 5.51m.

Obiena joined an elite club of Filipino athletes who won multiple gold medals in the Asian championships, including De Vega, Isidro del Prado, and Amelita Alanes.

De Vega bagged four as she ruled the women’s 100m and 200m in 1983 and 1987, while Del Prado (men’s 400m in 1983 and 1985) and Alanes (women’s 100m and women’s 4x400m relay in 1973) clinched two each.

Meanwhile, Kristina Knott fell short of her first Asian championships medal as she came in at fourth in the women’s 200m final.

Knott clocked a season-best time of 23.39 seconds, but she still finished behind China’s Li Yuting (23.25) for the bronze.

Singapore’s Shanti Pereira paired her women’s 100m gold with another one as she topped the women’s 200m with 22.70 seconds, while India’s Jyothi Yarraji clinched silver with 23.13 seconds. – Rappler.com