Ernest John “EJ” Uy Obiena is a world-class Filipino pole vaulter from Tondo, Manila who is known for his outstanding achievements to Philippine pole vaulting history. At 18 years old, Obiena topped Edward Lasquete’s national record from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona of 5.0 meters with his 5.01 jump in 2014. During this time, the 2011 junior national record of 4.31 meters was also broken. In the same year, Obiena broke his own record five times, 5.05, 5.05, 5.15, 5.20, 5.21 meters respectively. In 2015, he later broke his own personal record again achieving a 5.25 clearance from the Southeast Asia Games where he was also able to bag a silver medal. The next year, despite having problems with his pole, Obiena was able to win a gold medal in the 2016 Philippine National Games Finals in Lingayen, Pangasinan after breaking another personal record of 5.47 meters. Aside from that, Obiena also won gold medals in the 2019 Summer Universiade setting a new national record of 5.76 meters, the Asian Athletics Championships with a record of 5.71 meters, the Southeast Asian Games with a record of 5.45 meters and achieving a 5.81 meter jump at a tournament in Chiara, Italy in 2019 which broke another national record and also secured him a qualifying spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Obiena started pole vaulting when he was only eight years old but mainly focused on hurdles. Later on, he shifted back to pole-vaulting and was able to meet the Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka who provided him an opportunity to train in Italy under Bubka’s previous coach, Vitaly Petrov. Currently, Obiena’s personal record is a 5.93 clearance which he achieved at the International Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria in September 2021, also setting a new Asian record in pole vaulting.

2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo