EJ Obiena tops Germany event with season-best vault

EJ Obiena returned to his winning form after a string of competitions that saw him miss the podium.

Obiena cleared a season-best 5.78 meters as he topped the ISTAF Indoor in Berlin, Germany, on Friday, March 6 (Saturday, March 7, Manila time).

It was Obiena’s first podium finish in a month since he placed third in the INIT Indoor Meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany, in February.

He landed out of the podium in the next three competitions as he got fourth in the Perche Aux Etoiles, sixth in the Meeting Hauts-de-France, and sixth in the ORLEN Copernicus Cup in Poland.

“Brick by brick, we build,” Obiena wrote on his social media accounts.

Ranked 12th in the world, Obiena beat Norway’s Simen Guttormsen via countback for his first gold medal since he bagged a maiden title in the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tianjin, China, in February.

Obiena also eclipsed his previous season best of 5.77m, which he set in the Internationales Springer-Meeting Cottbus in Germany, where he won his first gold medal of 2026 in January. 

Menno Vloon of the Netherlands and Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany shared the bronze with 5.70m clearances. – Rappler.com