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Joaquin Henson - The Philippine Star
April 23, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — World No. 4 pole vaulter EJ Obiena leaves Manila tomorrow early morning for Xiamen to officially launch his outdoor campaign in the first leg of the Diamond League on April 26 after a three-week training camp with Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov at the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite.
Obiena, 28, ended his indoor season with an eighth place finish on a jump of 5.65m at the Mondo Classic in Sweden last March then flew to Dubai to reconnect with sports patron Jim Lafferty for a few days, went to Manila on a brief stop, visited Taiwan to compete in two meets and returned to train at Vermosa.
“Taiwan opened a lot of doors for me,” said Obiena. “It was in Taiwan where I joined my first international competition, where I first jumped 3m, 4m and 5m. I was invited to compete and I wanted to give back.” The first competition was indoors and Obiena started his approach outside the doorway to adjust to 16 steps when he usually takes 20 outdoors. He won gold with a clearance of 5.62m. Then, in his second appearance which was outdoors, he braved virtually zero visibility in thick fog to jump 5.50 for gold.
At Vermosa, Obiena said Petrov allowed only three days off. “On Easter Sunday, I trained twice,” he noted. “It’s a world-class facility with two swimming pools, a 400m track oval, a pole vault pit, a fully-equipped gym and a sports science lab. Coach Vitaly likes the isolation. They’ve got housing, dining, recovery and physios.”
Obiena said he’s looking forward to Xiamen. “No pressure, it’s the start of the season,” he said. “Mondo (Duplantis) and all the top vaulters will be there. I won’t go out trying to jump 6m. If it happens, it happens. It’s always a possibility. I’m jumping much better. Now, it’s a matter of translating my training to competition.”
From Xiamen, Obiena will head to Shanghai for another Diamond League leg on May 3. Obiena said after Shanghai, Petrov hopes to set up camp in Korea where the Asian Championships will be held in Gumi on May 27-31 but there are visa issues to address. Obiena said he might fly back to attend the international pole vault event at Vermosa on May 6 but won’t compete.
