Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena merely bankrupt the new national number (again): The guy discussions Tokyo Olympics, Mondo Duplantis, and impact this new like on the Philippines in our private chat.
EJ Obiena try smiling when he arises towards the videocall. “Disappointed, was just performing my Covid decide to try,” he says, “it is bad, very that is good news.”
It will be the most recent very good news for the a strong blast of a good development to possess EJ whoever incredible interior year has given treatment for an amazing backyard year with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Game only months away.
Obiena enjoys repeatedly broken national info and you will catapulted themselves on the the upper podium more than globe champ Sam Kendricks and you can Olympic silver medallist Thiago Braz.
Private! EJ Obiena kits sights to your Philippines’ first actually ever Olympic gold: “That is the mission”
To the Obiena put a special Filipino record of five.85m, successful the newest Diving and you can Fly race from inside the Mossingen, Germany, that draw exceeded their own record of five.81 that he devote in Chiari, Italy – a mark one made him the first Filipino so you’re able to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
The fresh new Olympic postponement has given Obiena annually to operate more difficult and you can increase nowadays he or she is hiking continuously for the wonders 6m draw, putting themselves throughout the reckoning into podium from the rescheduled during summer from 2021.
That it pole vaulter is the satisfaction regarding Filipino track and field which is into the undoubtedly on his objective in the Tokyo Games:
“Profit this new silver, that’s it man. Which is a really hard goal to achieve, but that’s the goal. That is why I am creating this, to not rating 2nd and not to track down 3rd. to victory they.” – EJ Obiena
Should Obiena exercise he’d become the first actually ever Filipino in order to profit an Olympic gold medal, permanently writing their term into Olympic lore of a country passionate about recreation.
Continue reading for this personal interview into the Philippine eagle, out-of his Olympic aims to the latest Filipino dining he misses (Particularly fresh coconut h2o, mangoes and you will Jollibbee!), just how Covid nearly generated your stop trying and you may go back home, and his 75-year-old mentor Vitaly Petrov who sure your to store supposed.
We including discover just how the guy manages his mental health away from your home, the newest nearest and dearest he or she is made, their girlfriend who’s together with a runner, therefore the challenging service the guy seems from Filipinos far and wide.
How highest is EJ Obiena go?
5.62m (5th) at the Karlsruhe Globe Indoor Journey, 5.80m (1st) at the ISTAF Berlin, 5.68m (1st) in Dortmund, 5.60m (5th) from the WA interior Journey Silver for the Lievin, 5.86m (2nd) within Orlen Cup in the Lodz, 5.80m (3rd) during the Copernicus Glass, Torun.
Today he has got their places intent on the brand new Far-eastern list from 5.93, however for EJ its not all about the latest wide variety.
“Therefore i fully grasp this peak purpose level that we need to reach but meanwhile its not all battle gift suggestions the fresh opportunity for one generate one bar, you understand. With regards to race, I attract more about the club that’s place immediately.
“Entering competition, when you consider this new number and you may people jumps over one checklist, you might be basically such, oh s. I need to plunge greater than one to?
“So i consider a knowledgeable style of therapy starting competition is just that we have to be the guy who jumps greater than other job. We manage winning the newest meets.”
His outdoor year began remarkably as he cleared 5.80 so you can best this new podium in Summer, then he cleared you to Olympic practical once more during the 2021 FBK Game on the Netherlands, where the guy stepped-up toward podium about just Mondo, which eliminated 6.10m.