Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena rose to world number five after his second-place best finish at the 2021 Paris Diamond League last August 28, 2021, after clearing 5.91 meters.
Accumulating 1,361 overall points in the latest rankings as released by World Athletics, the 25-year old Manileño is now declared fifth in the World Pole Vault rankings, behind the number one Armand Duplantis of Sweden, Christopher Nilsen and Sam Kendricks of America, and Renaud Lavillenie of France.
A week later, Obiena once again broke his personal best, the national record, and Kazakhstan’s Igor Potapovich two-decade Asian mark of 5.92m by finishing 5.93m in the Gold Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria last September 12.
Obiena was among the 19 Filipino athletes who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. After a basic clearing in the 5.55-meter mark, he struggled in the following height after missing his first two leaps at 5.70m. Previously, he was ranked sixth in the world rankings but, unfortunately, did not make it in clearing the 5.80-meter mark, hence formally being out of contention in the men’s pole vault finals at the Olympic Stadium last August.
Although he initially focused on hurdles, Ernest John (EJ) Obiena began pole vaulting when he was eight years old. Emerson Obiena, his father, was his coach until he was 17. At his high school, Chiang Kai Shek College, Obiena competed in the 100 and 400-meter hurdles events. Yet, after failing to qualify for regional meets, he returned to pole vaulting in his senior year in high school in hopes of securing a college scholarship. Moreover, he competed and brought the name of the University of Santo Tomas to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
At the 2015 Southeast Asian Games, Obiena went home with a silver, recording his previous personal record of a leap of 5.25 meters. A year later, he brought home gold in the 2016 Philippine National Games Finals in Lingayen, Pangasinan, after setting a new personal record (5.47 meters), despite problems with his broken pole.
It remains uncertain whether EJ Obiena will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics to build on his performance. After failing to clear the bar at 5.8 meters thrice in the Tokyo Games’ men’s pole vault finals, he kissed his gold dreams farewell.
However, the president of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA), Philip Juico has said in an interview shortly after Obiena’s last jump that it will still be up for talks with Obiena and his family, stating, “We still have to talk about it. We have to talk about how he feels after the Tokyo Games and how he feels competing in Paris.”
Juico also said that Obiena wants to finish his studies at the University of Santo Tomas, where he still has at least two semesters left to complete. He directly stated that “He still has to finish his studies, but we’ll talk about it.”
Furthermore, Obiena won gold at the 2019 Summer Universiade in the men’s pole vault event, setting a new national record of 5.76 meters. He secured a berth in the 2020 Summer Olympics by surpassing the qualifying standard by making a 5.81 meters finish in a tournament in Chiara, Italy, on September 3, 2019, which was also a national record. However, he failed to advance to the final round at the 2019 World Athletics Championships by finishing 15th out of 35 entrants through his 5.6 meters finish. He is aiming to surpass his record, targeting to leap 5.85 meters or further in training.
“We and the whole Filipino nation are very proud of the admirable performance that EJ Obiena has displayed in the Men’s Pole Vault Competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar said.
