Camille Naredo

Philippines' Ernest John Obiena competes in the men's pole vault final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP/File

Philippines' Ernest John Obiena competes in the men's pole vault final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP

Article (news)

PARIS 2024

Dyan Castillejo

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/2026/8/18/ej-obiena-clears-5-91m-to-win-gold-in-poland-0735">cleared 5.91 meters in Poland</a> to claim his eighth gold medal of the season and more importantly, register his highest outdoor clearance of the year.But for Obiena, the result meant more than another victory.&quot;I feel very happy, to be honest. It&#x27;s been a while that I have not jumped over a 90 bar,&quot; Obiena said. &quot;Getting over it, it&#x27;s a sigh of relief.&quot;The 5.91m clearance marked a significant step forward for Obiena, who endured injuries in the previous season.He believes the performance is evidence that the changes he has made to his training are beginning to pay off.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/8/16/pole-vaulter-ej-obiena-credits-recent-success-to-new-training-environment-being-fully-healthy-1519">READ: Pole vaulter EJ Obiena credits recent success to new training environment, being fully healthy</a></div>&quot;At the same time, knowing that I&#x27;m in a much better shape than I was a couple of years. And I&#x27;m getting there, better jumping,&quot; he said. &quot;I believe I could jump a little bit more.&quot;Obiena said there was nothing extraordinary about the day itself.&quot;I felt quite regular, so I think I could do more,&quot; he said. &quot;I&#x27;m happy to be able to jump back at the 95-90 range.&quot;The 30-year-old had been consistently clearing above 5.80m over the past several months. The performance also provided a major boost to Obiena&#x27;s confidence after a difficult period.&quot;Yes, 100%. That&#x27;s a sigh of relief,&quot; he said. &quot;I knew I could, but until I&#x27;m able to do it, it&#x27;s all up in the air,&quot; he said. &quot;Now, there&#x27;s a mark and there&#x27;s a result to show for it.&quot;This year, Obiena moved his training base to Athens, Greece, where he trains alongside current world No. 2 Emmanouil Karalis and a group of elite vaulters.The new setup has given him a more consistent routine and the opportunity to train alongside an athlete competing at the highest level of the sport.&quot;There&#x27;s not much difference that we&#x27;re doing. The training is a little bit more consistent. We have a weekly schedule now,&quot; Obiena said. &quot;In general, I would say 90-95% of the time we train together,&quot; he said.Obiena believes the competitive environment has been one of the biggest changes since moving to Athens.&quot;It&#x27;s just more fun I guess because I have someone to train with,&quot; he said. &quot;Training with the current world number two is always challenging. I need to show up the best that I could.&quot;&quot;I think that&#x27;s the biggest change for me through Athens.&quot;His new coach Marcin Szczepanski, was unable to travel to Poland because he was in Birmingham for the European Championships. But Obiena still stayed in contact with his coach throughout the competition, with his physiotherapist Christian Ferdinandi accompanying him in Poland.&quot;He said to me, don&#x27;t be afraid again,&quot; Obiena said of Marcin&#x27;s message. &quot;We were texting each other and Christian was sending videos to him. I do get feedback.&quot;&quot;It&#x27;s not the feedback on that day, on that point. There is feedback on what I&#x27;m supposed to do. I was moving up every attempt and it worked.&quot;Just as important as the 5.91m clearance is the fact that Obiena is currently competing without injury.When asked if he felt any pain: &quot;No, thankfully no. I hope it stays that way.&quot;His return to the Diamond League circuit will come next, with three consecutive meets in Lausanne, Silesia and Zurich.&quot;I&#x27;ll be back in the Diamond League circuit, which is good,&quot; Obiena said. &quot;A little bit late, but better late than never.&quot;Obiena currently sits at No. 13 in the world rankings, and is committed to working to achieve a return to top 10 by end of the year.&quot;World ranking is a consequence of the competitions that I&#x27;ve been doing,&quot; he said. He has missed more than half of the Diamond League meets this season, limiting his opportunities to collect ranking points.&quot;I hope by the end of the year I&#x27;m back in the top 10,&quot; Obiena said. &quot;It would be nice for me to be back... so I&#x27;m following my way back up.&quot;Beyond his technical and physical progress, Obiena said one of his biggest lessons from the past year has been learning not to make every moment about training and competition.&quot;To be 24-7, my head down, just doing everything and everything by the book,&quot; he said. &quot;It&#x27;s not a sin to have fun from time to time.&quot;For Obiena, that can mean racing go-karts with fellow athletes, spending time at Karalis&#x27; home or simply talking about life away from pole vault.&quot;I want to be competitive but having that banter is definitely an important thing that I actually miss.&quot;He acknowledged that finding the balance is difficult.&quot;It&#x27;s a fine line,&quot; Obiena said. &quot;It&#x27;s a very fine line of being stupidly having fun and just having fun.&quot;&quot;But from time to time, having fun is good. Especially in training. Having good competition all around and not being so focused and zoned in every session like a crazy person.&quot;The approach appears to be helping Obiena rediscover both his confidence and enjoyment of the sport.With the Diamond League circuit and Asian Games ahead in his calendar, Obiena confirmed that defending his title is the plan.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/8/19/-fully-healthy-more-prepared-ej-obiena-targets-asiad-pole-vault-gold-1545">READ: &#x27;Fully healthy, more prepared&#x27; EJ Obiena targets Asiad pole vault gold</a></div>And for the next generation of Filipino pole vaulters hoping to follow his path, Obiena&#x27;s advice reflects the lesson he has learned himself.&quot;Have fun. Enjoy it. It&#x27;s a journey,&quot; he said. &quot;The more you love it, the more you&#x27;re going to be able to endure a lot of the hardship that comes with it.&quot;&quot;So I would say enjoy it, have fun, be dedicated, but at the same time, find the beauty in it.&quot;

Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena cleared 5.91 meters in Poland to claim his eighth gold medal of the season and more importantly, register his highest outdoor clearance of the year.

Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena cleared 5.91 meters in Poland to claim his eighth gold medal of the season and more importantly, register his highest outdoor clearance of the year.

'Sigh of relief' for Obiena after 5.91-m jump in Poland competition

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'Sigh of relief' for Obiena after 5.91-m jump in Poland competition

Dyan Castillejo,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 19, 2026 07:30 PM PHT

Read More:

pole vault

EJ Obiena

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