OBIENA BRINGS HIGH-LEAPING ACT TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
ASIAN record holder Ernest John “EJ” Obiena will again be the country’s lone representative when he competes in his second World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. But this time around, Obiena will be armed with that 5.93-meter Asian record he set in Innsbruck, Austria, during the Golden Roof Challenge in September 12, 2021.
The 26-year-old two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist will also be flying to Eugene in earnest on Thursday to acclimatize for the July 22 to 24 championships where the world’s top 32 pole vaulters are seeing action.
“Italy and the US are two different time zones and I really need to settle
THE Philippines tries to build on its stunning 1-0 win over fancied Australia last Monday night against lightlyregarded Singapore as Group A play resumes on Wednesday in the 12th Asean Football Federation Women’s Championship at the Rizal Memorial Stadium and two other venues.
Hoping to draw a much bigger hometown crowd, the Filipinas eye my things,” said Obiena, who made the worlds standard of 5.80 meters several times in World Athletics-sanctioned tournaments mostly in Europe. “I will do whatever it takes to win there.”
Officials of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association expressed high hopes for Obiena, who debuted in the worlds with a 5.60-meter leap that was good for 15th place in Doha, Qatar, in 2019. Younger and inexperienced then, he didn’t advance to the final.
“I’m sure EJ will make it to the top 10 and be a contender for a podium finish,” PATAFA president Terry Capistrano said.
PATAFA Secretary-general Noel Silva, meanwhile, said that the federation’s other top athletes— SEA Games gold winners Eric Cray and Kayla Anise Richardson, both sprinters, and shotputter William Morrison—didn’t make the quota for the worlds.
PATAFA Coach Jeffrey Chua will accompany Obiena in Eugene.
“I’m really focusing on the World Championships. I really need to show up and do something because we never know if there’ll be another World Championships for me,” Obiena said. “I’m maximizing everything now although I’m not yet 100 percent okay.”
Obiena, however, won’t have his Coach Vitaly Petrov by his side most of the time in Eugene. The legendary Ukrainian mentor will be focused on his athletes from the Brazilian national team.
“He will still help me in training—whatever he could do for me—but I’m not expecting him to be with me during the actual competition,” Obiena said. Obiena has 13 gold medals— including his 5.93-meter Asian record achieved in Innsbruck, Austria during the Golden Roof Challenge on September 12, 2021 and his successful defense of Southeast Asian Games gold in Hanoi, Vietnam—since 2021.