EJ Obiena was reliving his Tokyo nightmare in front of the world in Paris on Saturday afternoon (Manila time).
Just three years ago, Obiena had a disappointing performance in the men’s pole vault final at the 2020 Olympic Games.
He struggled to find his footing, needing three attempts just to clear 5.75m in the qualifiers. In the final, he barely cleared 5.70m before crashing out just 0.1m later.
This time around, Obiena passed on 5.40m before attempting 5.60m. He failed to clear his first two attempts, leaving him with just one chance to keep his Paris dreams alive.
His head coach, Vitaly Petrov, then made a bold decision.
“I was really trying to stay mentally relaxed and trust my coach because he made the call. I was thinking, ‘Are you sure? I missed my two attempts at 5.60m and you want me to go to 5.70m?’ I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Yeah! Move up the pole.’ Internally, I was like, ‘Why are you so calm? I’m stressed out right here!’” Obiena recalled to One Sports.
In his final attempt to qualify for the final, Obiena not only cleared 5.70m but soared so high it felt like 5.90m. Finding his groove, he also cleared 5.75m to advance to the next round.
“My dream was on the line in one jump. It’s as stressful as it can be. Sorry for the language, but my s*** went up, turned around, and came down,” he quipped.
The old EJ was back for his final jump, thanks to Petrov’s bold gamble.
“That helped, and I just did what he told me and executed. I think we were pretty chill. We didn’t really need to jump super high, but it got me into that rhythm,” he recalled.
“After that 5.70m, I didn’t want to express too much emotion, but dude, three years, man! That jump was a culmination of all that time. Three years of hard work and struggle were on the line.”
The final will feature pole vaulting’s elite, including Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, the USA’s Sam Kendricks, and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, among others.
Obiena understands the pressure of carrying the dreams of millions of Filipinos on his young shoulders. But he knows he has someone to share that privilege with – none other than Petrov.
“I’m just going to do my thing. Make the right decisions day in and day out. That’s all I’m going to do. I have a good team and a good coach that I trust with my life.”
