Filipino pole-vaulter EJ Obiena simply broke this new national listing (again): He conversations Tokyo Olympics, Mondo Duplantis, and you will perception the fresh love on the Philippines inside our private cam.
EJ Obiena is smiling when he appears on the videocall. “Sorry, was only doing my personal Covid test,” according to him, “it’s negative, so which is great.”
It will be the newest very good news in a solid blast of a beneficial development to possess EJ whose unbelievable interior 12 months has given treatment for an unbelievable outside seasons into Tokyo 2020 Olympic Video game simply weeks away.
Obiena have several times busted national details and you will catapulted himself into the the upper podium more community champion Sam Kendricks and Olympic gold medallist Thiago Braz.
Personal! EJ Obiena kits sights to your Philippines’ very first ever Olympic gold: “That’s the purpose”
Into Obiena set a different Filipino number of 5.85m, profitable the fresh Jump and you may Fly competition inside Mossingen, Germany, one draw exceeded his very own listing of 5.81 which he set in for the Chiari, Italy – a dot you to generated him the original Filipino so you can qualify for Tokyo 2020.
The newest Olympic postponement gave Obiena a-year to your workplace more complicated and go higher now he’s hiking gradually to the secret 6m draw, getting themselves regarding reckoning to the podium on rescheduled in the summer off 2021.
Which pole vaulter ‘s the pride off Filipino track and field that is from inside the no doubt in the their objective on Tokyo Games:
“Earn new gold, that’s it guy. Which is a really hard objective to attain, but that is the goal. That’s why I am undertaking all of this, never to score second and not locate third. in order to profit it.” – EJ Obiena
Would be to Obiena take action he would get to be the first actually Filipino so you’re able to earn an Olympic gold medal, forever composing his label towards the Olympic lore regarding a nation passionate about athletics.
Continue reading for this personal interview into Philippine eagle, regarding their Olympic aims to the newest Filipino eating he misses (Such as fresh coconut liquid, mangoes and Jollibbee!), just how Covid nearly made him give up and you can go back home, and his 75-year-dated coach Vitaly Petrov whom convinced him to save going.
I along with hear about how he looks after their psychological state away from your home, new family unit members he could be produced, their girlfriend who’s along with a runner, in addition to overwhelming service he seems out of Filipinos far and wide.
How highest can also be EJ Obiena go?
5.62m (5th) during the Karlsruhe Globe Indoor Journey, 5.80m (1st) in the ISTAF Berlin, 5.68m (1st) when you look at the Dortmund, 5.60m (5th) on WA interior Concert tour Silver inside Lievin, 5.86m (2nd) on Orlen Glass in Lodz, 5.80m (3rd) at Copernicus Glass, Torun.
Now they have his landscapes seriously interested in brand new Far eastern checklist away from 5.93, but also for EJ it’s just not exactly about the brand new wide variety.
“Thus i understand this peak purpose peak which i should reach however, at the same time don’t assume all competition gift ideas the newest chance of one create one bar, you realize. With respect to competition, We attract regarding the latest bar that is lay now.
“Going into competition, if you think about the new record and anybody leaps more than one to listing, you’re fundamentally particularly, oh s. I want to plunge more than that?
“So i consider an educated type of mindset starting battle is merely that we have to be the guy which leaps higher than the remainder field. We work at effective the fresh match.”
His outdoor 12 months first started remarkably when he eliminated 5.80 to better the podium during the June, he then removed one to homens que sГі namoram Gana mulheres Olympic practical again within 2021 FBK Game on the Netherlands, in which he stepped-up for the podium at the rear of simply Mondo, whom removed six.10m.