Camille Naredo

Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena during a UAAP Season 87 men's basketball match between Ateneo and La Salle at the Araneta Coliseum on September 15, 2024. UAAP Media/File


Ateneo de Manila University (blue) battle against De La Salle University Green Archers (light) during the UAAP Season 87 Men's Basketball at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on September 15, 2024. UAAP handout

Article (news)

UAAP Season 87

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175829865563720240914-UAAP87-MB-admu-vs-dlsu-EJ Obiena.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena during a UAAP Season 87 men&#x27;s basketball match between Ateneo and La Salle at the Araneta Coliseum on September 15, 2024. UAAP Media/File"/>Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena during a UAAP Season 87 men&#x27;s basketball match between Ateneo and La Salle at the Araneta Coliseum on September 15, 2024. UAAP Media/File</div>MANILA -- Olympic pole vaulter EJ Obiena is raring to put on a show in front of his fellow Filipinos during the Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge this weekend. After being postponed, Obiena&#x27;s to hold a world-class pole vault competition is finally coming to fruition on Sunday at the Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati City.  He said it&#x27;s &#x27;amazing&#x27; to have the event sanctioned by World Athletics in the Philippines. &quot;How much more can I be motivated? I&#x27;m hosting the first ever [pole vault event], I might as well try to do it the best way that I can.,&quot; he said after the UAAP Season 88 opening ceremony on Friday. <div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/9/19/ej-obiena-realizes-a-dream-with-world-pole-vault-challenge-1345">READ: EJ Obiena realizes a dream with World Pole Vault Challenge</a></div>The 29-year-old Manila native, who is fresh from the World Athletics Championships, will be competing against eight other athletes at the Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge. Pole vaulters joining the world-class competition include: -- World No. 5 Ersu Sasma from Turkey -- World No. 6 Menno Vloon from the Netherlands -- World No. 12 Thibaut Collet from France -- World No. 13 Ben Broeders from Belgium -- World No. 14 Austin Miller from USA -- World No. 15 Piotr Lisek from Poland -- World No. 16 Oleg Zernikel from Germany -- World No. 23 Matt Ludwig from USA Obiena admits the 2025 season has not been the best, but remains motivated to reach greater heights. &quot;The season has not been good, it&#x27;s not like I&#x27;ve been unlucky, it&#x27;s just not been good. There&#x27;s no excuses to that, I need to be better, I need to carry myself in a much higher level,&quot; he said. <div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/9/19/ej-obiena-relishes-full-circle-moment-as-torchbearer-for-uaap-season-88-opening-2240">READ: EJ Obiena relishes &#x27;full circle moment&#x27; as torchbearer for UAAP Season 88 opening</a></div>After the world-class pole vault event, Obiena said he will take time off to rest and recover. &quot;I&#x27;m going to rest, I need, my body needs some time off, I need to be able to recover, I need to be able to do everything that my body is not fighting the things that I want to do. So with that, I need to respect it, I need to respect the timing of things,&quot; he shared. Obiena however clarified that he has no injuries. &quot;No my back is fine, it&#x27;s just throughout the season there&#x27;s a little nicks and bolts that, you know, were not firing the way I wanted it to be,&quot; he said. &quot;Therefore there&#x27;s training and there&#x27;s momentum and coming from a back injury last year needed all the time and all the trainings to kind of fall into place so that I could be back to where I&#x27;m at. And if that doesn&#x27;t work, then, you know, it&#x27;s a little bit difficult,&quot; Obiena added.

Olympic pole vaulter EJ Obiena is raring to put on a show in front of his fellow Filipinos during the Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge this weekend.

Olympic pole vaulter EJ Obiena is raring to put on a show in front of his fellow Filipinos during the Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge this weekend.

EJ Obiena eager to put on a show in front of home crowd in pole vault event

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EJ Obiena eager to put on a show in front of home crowd in pole vault event

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 20, 2025 06:30 AM PHT

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EJ Obiena

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Atletang Ayala Pole Vault Challenge

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UAAP Season 88

University of Santo Tomas

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