AFTER a successful three-week training camp at the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite, pole vault star Ernest John Obiena is fit and ready to kick off his outdoor campaign with back-to-back Wanda Diamond League meets in Xiamen and Shanghai, China, according to his mother, Jeannette Obiena.
“EJ has fully recovered from his (spine) injury and was able to complete a successful three-week training camp at Vermosa. He will compete in the Wanda Diamond League meets in Xiamen and Shanghai,” the elder Obiena said yesterday.
Mrs. Obiena disclosed that his son, Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov and the athlete’s Saudi training partner, Hussain Al-Hizam, have held training daily at the Ayala-owned facility since March 22.
She added that this was the first time that his son had trained in the country in a while before competing internationally.
“Coach Vitaly liked the set-up since they had exclusive use of the pole vault pit and trained even during the Holy Week with EJ’s training partner Hussain,” she revealed. “EJ no longer felt pain while they practiced.”
Tipped as one of the country’s medal contenders in the last Paris Olympic Games, Obiena narrowly missed a podium finish, winding up fourth with a jump of 5.90 meters, losing the bronze to Emmanouil Karalis of Greece on the countback.
The Asian record holder of six meters flat, Obiena revealed that a nagging spine injury had hobbled his performance that required surgery after the Olympics.
Obiena, now down to No. 4 in the world, may have payback in mind when he competes on Saturday at the sprawling 53,000-seat Egret Stadium against a star-studded field led by back-to-back Olympic gold medalist and World No. 1 Armand Duplantis of Sweden.
Nine of the top 10 pole vaulters in the world are seeing action in the event, with Paris Olympic silver medalist Sam Kendricks (No. 2) of the US and Karalis (No. 3) also in the entry list plus Ersu Sasma of Turkey (No. 5), Kurtis Marschall of Australia (No. 6), Sondre Guttormsen of Norway (No. 8) Ben Broeders of Germany (No. 9) and Menno Vloon of Norway (No. 10).
Obiena will also go up the same cast in the Shanghai leg of the Wanda Diamond League on May 3.
