By NIKOLE JAVIER
Filipino Olympian EJ Obiena vowed to comeback more prepared following a disastrous ninth place finish in the men’s pole vault at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships earlier this week in Glasgow, Scotland.
The world No. 2 and Asian record holder posted one of his lowest performances yet in the indoors after only clearing one bar during the whole competition.
Last month, Obiena opened his indoors campaign delivering strong performances that saw him come up huge with a 5.83m feat in Croatia before clearing a 5.93m in Berlin, Germany.
Though defeated in results this time as he wrapped up this year’s indoors stint, Obiena made no excuses for his dismal showing and vowed to be more prepared come the outdoors season where he thrived last year — reaching the podium 15 times in 16 competitions.
“I need to be more prepared. If there’s a theme with the indoor season for me, it was a gamble. My outdoor season last year started, ended quite late. This is no excuse for my performance and I take full responsibility in placing ninth,” said Obiena during the virtual press conference introducing him as VISA’s newest athlete ambassador, following in the footsteps of gymnast Carlos Yulo and goalkeeper Inna Palacios on Tuesday, March 5.
The 28-year-old two-Olympian became the first Filipino to qualify for the Paris Games last year and ever since has been seeing a preview of the grandest sporting showpiece.
Meanwhile, expecting nothing less from world’s best and world record holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, the Swedish retained his title with an impressive 6.05m.
Aside from his rival and Obiena, who already secured their spots to the Games, five other Paris-bound athletes saw action in the competition.
Despite the lack of preparation on his end, Obiena said he had no regrets about his decision to plunge into action and instead will use the defeat as his driving force when he vies for podium in the outdoors in mid-May before the Games formally kicks off.
“I made my decision. I went to the field and I knew going into the field I could medal and I could win and this is why I decided to take part. Things didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, and there are always variables. If there’s a way to go back in time and actually redo it, I would,” he added.
“I think we’re hitting the right markers at the right time.”
Obiena, after the competition, has been feeling under the weather and will be flying out to Italy back to his training base.
