APPEALING to his sense of patriotism and not wanting to let a virtual athletic gold slip away in the 33rd Thailand Southeast Asian Games in December, pole vault standout Ernest John Obiena has been penciled in by Philippine Athletics for the regional meet.
“EJ will be in the SEA Games,” a very reliable source from the athletic body said, sure that Obiena will be included in the national track and field team for the biennial games among Southeast Asian nations.
The lean and lanky pole vaulter had expressed stepping aside for the SEA Games to pave the way for his heir apparent – Fil-Am Elijah Cole and homegrown talent Hokett Delos Santos – to represent the country and vie for top honors in the SEAG athletic championships set Dec. 11 to 16 at the Supachalasai National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
“Of course we want to win gold medals, we want to compete, but at the same, we won’t be here forever,” said Obiena, 29, more than a week ago after ruling the Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge with a season-best jump of 5.80 meters.
“We need the next guys (Cole and Delos Santos) to step up,” said Obiena, adding that this explains why Delos Santos was included in the roster of athletes competing in the country’s first international pole vault meet sanctioned by World Athletics and Patafa.
He was willing to give up his slot for both Cole, 27, and Delos Santos, 22, since there are only two entries per country for the event in the SEA Games.
Obiena will be eyeing his fourth straight mint in the highly-demanding event where he has been a class of his own, including setting a SEAG record of 5.65 meters in the last Cambodian edition staged at the Morodok Technical Stadium in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in 2023.
Securing the men’s pole vault championship in Bangkok would be an atoning end of sorts for the three-time Asian champion and Asian record holder after an injury-plagued, so-so outing in 2025 that saw him drop out of the top 10 of the World Athletics men’s pole vault rankings in two years at No. 11.
Once ranked as high as No. 2 and bruited as one of the potential challengers to Swedish phenom Mondo Duplantis, Obiena dropped four rungs to No. 11 with 1,327 points in the latest WA ratings released last Sept. 23
This is based on the average of five WA-sanctioned events: the 26th Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, 5.77 (1st); the Orlen Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland, 5.80 (1st), Yangtze River Delta Athletics Diamond, Gala in Shaoxing, China, 5,72 (5th); Meeting de Internationale d’Athletisme Herculis EBS in Monaco, 5.72 (7th); and the BAUHAUS-Galan in Stockholm, Sweden, 5.70 (7th).
Duplantis, who soared to a new world mark of 6.30 meters at the last 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan remained at No. 1 with 1,638 points, followed by rising Greek and Paris Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis (1,487), while Australian Kurtis Marschall was third (1,417).
