AMID unusually foggy conditions at an event he used to frequent in his rise as an elite athlete, Ernest John Obiena had a modest jump of 5.50 meters, good enough to rule the Taiwan International Pole Vault Championship for his first outdoor win in Caotun, Taiwan, last Monday.
After skipping the bars at 5.30 and 5.40 meters, Obiena, who wore a yellow ballcap in reverse while competing, nailed the gold medal on his third try at 5.50 meters before calling it a day due to what he described as “murky conditions” in his official Instagram post yesterday.
“During several of the many flights I have taken to compete in pole vault around the world, I have indeed encountered fog warnings at the airport where you can see very little. Well, I had a new experience today,” he said.
“I had my first fog warning in the midst of a pole vault competition in Taiwan. With roughly 10 meters of visibility, you just disappear. Talk about the proverbial ‘Leap of faith!’ he stressed.
“I decided to go for it and place my leap of faith in God’s hands. I am thankful to have won the competition under such ‘murky’ conditions!” Obiena, who holds the Asian record of six meters flat, exclaimed in relief. “This was a new kind of adversity and I learned from it.”
Also vying in the meet was national teammate Hocket delos Santos, who tied his personal best by clearing 5.15 meters.
Meanwhile, 2019 Philippine Southeast Asian Games women’s marathon gold medalist Christine Hallasgo continued to show marked improvement, setting a new personal best of two hours, 49 minutes and 27 seconds in finishing ninth at the 20th Asian Marathon meet in Jiaxing, China.
Now under coach and former national marathoner Christabel Martes, Hallasgo surpassed by a minute her previous best of 2:50.27 when she bagged the bronze medal in the Cambodia SEA Games in 2023.
Her current time was just six seconds off the silver-medal time of Le Thi Thuyet of Vietnam set on the streets of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
