By Geoffrey Latayan
Two-time Filipino Olympian Ernest John Obiena completed a pole vault three-peat at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships in the South Korean city of Gumi on Saturday night.
Obiena, the Asian record holder and fourth-ranked pole vaulter in the world, edged out Chinese bet Huang Bokai in a jump-off with a best result of 5.77 metres.
The two athletes tried to clear 5.82m for the gold medal, but Obiena and Huang both failed to clear the bar in three attempts, thus requiring a sudden-death jump-off at 5.77m.
The 29-year-old aced the height on his first jump and took home the gold when his Chinese counterpart failed on his first try.
Obiena won his first gold in Dubai back in 2019 before repeating in 2023 in Bangkok, where he set the Asian Championship record at 5.91m.
“Three-peat Asian champion!” wrote Obiena in his latest Instagram post, showing off the newest addition to his stacked trophy cabinet.
Lone gold medal for the Philippines, SE Asia
The Pinoy pole vaulter’s feat gave the Southeast Asian nation its lone gold medal at the trackfest.
It was also the only gold medal for the Southeast Asian region in a competition dominated by China and India.
The Philippines placed eighth overall in the medal tally, tying Kuwait and Pakistan.
China, meanwhile, won a table-topping medal haul of 19 gold, nine silver, and four bronze medals, with India coming in second thanks to an 8-10-6 haul.
Japan were third at 5-11-12 followed by Kazakhstan and Qatar at 3-1-2.
Hosts South Korea placed sixth at 2-1-1 and Iran came in seventh at 2-1-0.
In the Southeast Asian region, Thailand won four silvers and three bronzes while Singapore copped two silvers.
Vietnam won one silver plus one bronze and Malaysia snared one bronze at the biennial meet.
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Thai bet on his way to dethrone Obiena
Patsapong Amsam-ang of Thailand wound up with a bronze medal in the pole vault event on Saturday with a clearance of 5.67m.
Ansam-ang’s personal best was 10 centimetres shy of Obiena’s effort and only 5cm behind silver medalist Huang.
He required three attempts to clear 5.52m but cleared 5.62m and 5.67m in two attempts each.
A shot at 5.72m then failed twice before his gold medal effort concluded with a failed 5.77m hurdle.
The Thai’s performance means that in due time – and if his training and record clearances continue – Huang and Obiena will have company on the Asian and world stages.
Seif Haneida of Qatar finished fifth with 5.62m while China’s Li Chenyang cleared 5.52m for sixth place.
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