EJ Obiena targets Paris Games medal and six-meter club
WORLD Athletics Championships pole-vault bronze medalist EJ Obiena isn鈥檛 done rewriting history.
A day after his glorious Eugene, Oregon feat where he delivered the Philippines its first podium finish in the Worlds, Mr. Obiena said he is eyeing to accomplish two more things what only a rare few had done 鈥 snare an Olympic medal and join the elite 6-meter club.
鈥淭here are a lot of things I want to do in the sport. I鈥檓 still happy to win the bronze medal but missing six meters is like yeah, there鈥檚 something I need to do,鈥 said Mr. Obiena during yesterday鈥檚 zoom meeting he hosted.
鈥淭here鈥檚 only 24 people who reached the six-meter mark, I want to be the 25th,鈥 he added.
Mr. Obiena had his chances in Eugene though as he went for 6m but missed in three attempts.
But his 5.94m was enough to deliver the country its first medal in the history of the biennial event while shattering the old Asian mark of 5.93m he himself set in the Golden Roof Challenge in Innsbruck, Austria last year.
The Southeast Asian Games gold medalist will have his opportunities to breach the 6m-mark as he is scheduled to see action in the Silesia leg of the Diamond League set on Aug. 6 in Poland and the Gyulai Istvan Memorial-Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix on Aug. 8 in Hungary.
Another goal that would cement Mr. Obiena鈥檚 status as one of the biggest, brightest stars of the sport is if he could win medal in the Olympics, a first by a Filipino since Miguel White copped a 400m hurdles bronze in the 1936 Berlin Games.
To achieve this, Mr. Obiena said he must level up with rivals Armand Duplantis, who set a new world record of 6.21 in Eugene, and American Christopher Nilsen, who snatched the silver with a 5.94m.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the plan, that鈥檚 definitely what I want to achieve. Mondo (Duplantis) is definitely a force to be respected, to be reckoned with and Chris (Nilsen) is a competitor and everybody else in the field so if it鈥檚 going to be a medal, that I can鈥檛 say. Hopefully it will be a better case in Paris,鈥 he said. 鈥 Joey Villar
