Obiena rips SEAG pole vault mark after layoff

MANILA, Philippines — Asian Games-bound pole vaulter Ernest “EJ” Obiena continued on the fast road to recovery as he put in solid performances in Czech Republic and Germany, surpassing the Southeast Asian Games record twice in three days.

Obiena, only in his third competition since getting sidelined by an ACL injury, vaulted to a height of 5.45 meters at the Gold Spike of Ostrava, an IAAF World Challenge event, last Wednesday to surpass the SEAG mark of 5.35 m Thailand’s Porranot Purshong set last year. Obiena was forced to sit out the 2017 SEAG when he tore his ACL before departing for Malaysia.

Not done yet, the 23-year-old Santo Tomas engineering junior returned to action Saturday at the International Stabboc Spring Meeting at Zweobrucken Westphalz-Stadium in Germany, vaulting to 5.51m  for seventh place in a field of 12. Two Chinese athletes, Bokai Huang (5.61) and Jin Yao (also 5.51), finished ahead of the Pinoy ace.

Obiena is expected to continue improving and once more reach the form that made him post the Philippine standard of 5.61m. 

“EJ’s amazing performance brings him within striking distance of a podium finish at the Asiad, where the record for the gold medal was 5.65 in Hiroshima and 5.70 in the Asian championship in Manila in 2003,” Patafa president Philip Ella Juico said.

Obiena is set to compete in more European meets before flying directly from his training base in Italy to the Jakarta Asiad. 

Juico said the training of Obiena, one of Philippines’ prime candidates  for a podium finish in athletics, is being bankrolled  by Ayala Corporation and PATAFA and partly supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.