Asian Games 2023 athletics: EJ Obiena soars to pole vault gold in Hangzhou
Obiena clinches the Philippines' first gold medal of the 2023 Asian Games, handily winning the men's pole vault final on Saturday (30 September).
Athletics
The Philippines have their first gold medal at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou in 2023, and it's come, as expected, from the country's athletics golden boy, Ernest John (EJ) Obiena.
Obiena, the World Championships silver medallist and the only Asian man to have jumped 6.00 metres, was unmatched by the field, being the only athlete to clear at 5.75m on Saturday night (30 September) at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium.
The Filipino vaulter actually missed on his first attempt at what was to be the winning height, taking the bar down. However, he soared clear on his second attempt to guarantee gold. His fans in the corner of the stadium by the pole vault mat unfurled a giant Philippine flag in celebration.
Afterwards, Obiena moved the bar up to 5.90m, which he also easily cleared on his first try to extend the Asian Games record mark, which he had broken at 5.75. He then asked for the bar to be adjusted further higher to 6.02m in an attempt to break his own Asian record. However, it was not to be as he missed all three attempts at that height.
"I didn't want to stop at 5.90," Obiena told reporters. "I'm excited to take this medal, put it on a shelf, but I would have liked to hit a record in front of an Asian crowd. That would have been amazing.
"Unfortunately, I didn't have it in me, but this is one of the biggest stadiums I've been in and one of the most amazing crowds."
The successful Asian Games meet ends Obiena's season on a high note, coming after his second-place finishes at both the World Championships and Diamond League Final, and entrenches him in second place in the world rankings behind world record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden.
Hosts People's Republic of China as well as Saudi Arabia completed the podium through Huang Bokai and Hussain al Hizam, who both recorded 5.65m, with Huang taking silver on countback.