World no. 2 EJ Obiena is prioritizing his recovery from a spine injury before mapping out his career plans in the coming years, which includes possibly competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Pinoy pole vaulter EJ Obiena is keeping his options open for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after finishing fourth in the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Obiena made major strides after his 11th place finish in Tokyo 2020, but that was little consolation for the Olympian as he bared his disappointment in missing out on a podium finish,
Since his Olympic campaign ended, Obiena shared that he has been taking the time to recover from a spine injury he suffered just before Paris 2024.
Because of this, the world no. 2 pole vaulter isn’t looking too far ahead just yet with his competitions.
“We'll see. I really am taking it one day at a time, seeing what exactly fuels my fire. The reason why I can't give you guys the answer that you guys I think want to have is just that I don't want to lie. I don't want to go and say, yeah, we're gunning right away, this and that,” Obiena told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.
“If I don't truly feel that, if I don't truly comprehend the sacrifices that I need to do, I don't want to be in LA to just be in LA. If I'm gonna do that, I'm gonna go all out and freaking win the thing,” he added.
Despite LA 2028 being four years away, the 28-year-old Obiena is not too worried about his age by then, which will be 32. He emphasized that older pole vaulters have succeeded in the Olympics.
“For pole vault, 32 [years old] is still pretty young. Tim Mack won his first Olympic gold in Athens when he was already 33. Sam [Kendricks] is already 32, and he had his best finish just yet,” said Obiena.
“Pole vault is such a complex sport. It takes a lot of years perfecting the movement and believing and having that consistency and trusting yourself in all of these things,” he explained.
For now, Obiena has made his goals clear for the rest of the year: to recover and defend his world no. 2 status.
“We'll see what's next for me. For now, really try to get healthy. We'll see how this season goes. I would want to defend some of my points and hopefully stay within the world no. 2 ranking before the end of the year. I think it is doable,” said Obiena.