Obiena pulls off 'leap of faith' to win gold in Taiwan tilt

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

April 1, 2025 | 3:27pm

MANILA, Philippines — World No. 4 EJ Obiena flew to Nantou City for one thing only — to rule the Taiwan International Pole Vault competition.

And that the Asian champion and record-holder from Tondo in Manila did with aplomb after he topped the meet held at the Sun Moon Lake amid foggy condition Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian Games champion took the gold with a 5.50-meter clearance, ahead of American Matt Ludwig, who snared the silver with a 5.30m.

The 25-man field also included another Filipino, a young Hokket delos Santos, — heavily considered as Obiena’s successor to the throne — who cleared a personal-best 5.15m, which was good for 10th place.

Obiena later called it a leap of faith.

“Well I had a new experience today. I had my first fog warning in the midst of a pole vault competition, in Taiwan. With roughly 10 meters visibility, you just disappear. Talk about the proverbial ‘Leap of faith,’” he said.

“I am thankful to have won the competition under such ‘murky’ conditions! We can’t always have sunny skies and perfect weather conditions.”

Obiena said he learned a lot in Taiwan.

“We have to persevere through all kinds of adversity.  This was a new kind of adversity and I learned from it,” he said.