OLYMPIC-BOUND pole vaulter EJ Obiena is happy to return to the track after Italy relaxed strict protocols and started allowing outdoor training and exercises.
“So far, so good. The track is open,” Obiena told reporters who joined on Sunday night’s online press conference organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa).
Obiena addressed the conference straight from the field at the training facility in Formia, Italy, where he is being coached by world renowned Ukranian Vitaly Petrov, who also coached pole vaulting great Sergey Bubka.
Obiena’s tanned skin was proof that he is back in serious training after outdoor activities were banned for some two months all over the world. And that experience almost forced him to depression.
It made him fell to depression.
“I was a bit lost,” he said. “But I had a talk with my coach. He said I should be improving myself every single day. It doesn’t matter if the competition is today or tomorrow,” he said.
Petrov started coaching Obiena in 2014 in Italy after getting a scholarship offer from Bubka.
Obiena’s best stands at 5.81 meters, numbers that he need to improve on if he wants to make an impact in the Tokyo Olympics that was postponed for next year.
“I want jump 5.80 m at every competition consistently. That’s my goal for now,” he said.
The world’s best pole vaulter have enviable accomplishments. Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva won the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics gold medal in record fashion with 6.03 m. Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie took silver with 5.98 m, while American Sam Kendricks bagged bronze with 5.85 m, a few millimeters better than Obiena’s best effort.
Obiena trains with Da Silva at the same World Pole Vault Centre and have become pals.
“We’re killing it every day in training. We push each other to our limits,” Obiena said.
Obiena hopes to compete at the Diamond League in Monaco on August 14 although World Athletics—formerly the International Alliance of Athletics Federations—has yet to announce if the event would push through as scheduled.
The Patafa, meanwhile, announced over the weekend that the National Open would be postponed from this summer to a December schedule.
Patafa President Philip Ella Juico told reporters also via a videoconference that the championships would be staged at the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City.
Originally scheduled from May 27 to 31 at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, Juico said the open would also serve as a qualifier for Tokyo.
But Juico said the Patafa would remain dependent on government protocols on the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is an Olympic qualifier and we hope to entice foreign teams. We’re inviting our Southeast Asian neighbors,” he said.