Filipino pole vaulter Ej Obiena experienced a poignant moment of growth and determination following his fourth-place finish in the Diamond League at the Charlety Stadium in Paris, France.
While Obiena is the first Filipino athlete to secure an Olympic berth for Paris 2024 after clearing 5.82 meters in the BAUHAUS-Galan leg of the Diamond League in Stockholm last July 2023, he had to face the challenge of competing against the world’s best pole vaulters in the Paris leg of this year's Diamond League at the Charlety Stadium to grasp the actual Olympic experience.
The Philippines’ top pole vaulter aims to soar to new heights as he comes back on the Olympic stage after ending his Tokyo 2020 stint in 11th place.
“Diamond League is the highest level of athletics other than the major championships. There’s a lot of athletes that I would say even go, so in the Olympics I would get to compete in the Diamond League," said Obiena.
"There’s that prestige as well, but for me, it was more like, I was hoping to be competing in the Olympic stadium, get a feel of it, know how it is, but it’s a good competition and a quality field, so I might as well try it, let’s see how it goes, and try to do our best,” he added.
For the Meeting de Paris this year, EJ Obiena finished in fourth place with a clearance of 5.75 m, tied with Greece's Emmanouil Karalis.
Despite missing out on the podium, the Philippine athletics star soars with passion and dedication. While the result may not be what he hoped for, he will draw strength from it to propel his performance on the actual Olympic stage.
“It has been tougher for me. It has been more challenging than I would have thought. There are bumps in the road that I didn’t really expect, but it didn’t work out. Today, I went for it, put the bar in 5.95 [meters], tried to get on the podium, and gave it a fighting shot, but it didn’t work out. I’ll take what I can take today; it’s the direction; still, the height may not be represented, but it's still taken in the right direction,” he explained.
While the result could be classified as disappointing, especially set against EJ's own standards, Obiena remains as the world no. 2 pole vaulter, just behind Swedish star Armand Duplantis. He will be counted on as among the Filipino favorites to take a medal when he returns to Paris for the Olympics.
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