NAGOYA, Japan — Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena won his second straight Asian Games gold medal Tuesday after clearing 5.91 meters to set a new Games record at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.
Obiena missed his first two attempts at 5.80 meters but secured the gold after his final challenger, China’s Li Chen-Yang, failed to clear the same height.
With the victory already secured, Obiena took one final attempt and cleared 5.91 meters to surpass his previous Asian Games record of 5.90 meters, which he set at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
The mark also matched Obiena’s season best.
Obiena earlier cleared 5.50, 5.70 and 5.75 meters in the competition before reaching 5.80 meters.
China’s Jie Yao won the silver after clearing 5.70 meters and finished ahead of Li on countback. Li took the bronze.
Obiena’s victory gave the Philippines its third gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, joining two-time gold medalist Carlos Yulo.
He also became the third Filipino athletics medalist at the Games after John Tolentino won bronze in the men’s 110-meter hurdles and Victoria Bossong earned bronze in the women’s 800 meters.