PARIS (Via PLDT Home) – His “bad back” notwithstanding, the Philippines’ Enest John Obiena shoots for a place in the men’s pole vault finals in the qualifying round starting at 10 a.m. Friday (4 p.m. Philippines) in the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Stade de France here.
Lingering back issues have cast a shadow over the readiness of Obiena, who checked into the Athlete’s Village on Wednesday as his confidante, Jim Lafferty disclosed that the Filipino athlete has been grappling with back pain since 2022.
Despite the persistent discomfort, Lafferty expressed optimism about Obiena’s current condition, attributing his progress to diligent recovery efforts.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Terry Capistrano joined the chorus of voices saying that the world’s no. 2 pole vaulter will be fine.
“He’s handling it properly and it’s being attended to. He should be okay,” said Capistrano. “He has a physician with him, who’s part of the team. And Dr. Raul Canlas is also here. Whatever it is, as far as I know, it’s manageable.”
This was confirmed by Obiena’s long-time physiotherapist Antonio Guglietta, who assured that Obiena is currently injury-free.
If this is the case and the formcharts hold true, then Obiena should be a cinch to medal in the games.
Not so fast, says Capistrano.
“It’s easier said than done,” said the athletics’ chief. “Anyone from among the Top 10 can podium and the only guy who’s ahead of the pack is (Armand) Duplantis. But at the end of the day, we must remember that EJ is world No. 2. That’s the sum of what he’s been doing the past 12 to 18 months. ‘Yun ang suma total. So, he should be ready.”
A leap of 6 meters here should be enough to land Obiena a podium finish.
And Obiena is very capable of doing that, having achieved it twice on June 10, 2023, at the Sparebanken Vest Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway and on August 26, 2023, at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he bagged the silver medal.
In the 31-man pole vault field of the Paris games, only Sam Kendricks (US, 6.06), Piotr Lisek (Poland, 6.02), Obiena (6.0), Cris Nielsen (US, 6.05) and Sweden’s Duplantis are members of the exclusive 6-Meter Club.
Of the list, Duplantis is a cut above the rest having shattered the world record eight times, the last at 6.24 meters Diamond League meet in Xiamen, China.
Other notable names in the pole vault competitions are the Netherlands’ Menlo Vloon, Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, France’s, Thibaut Collet, Turkey’s Ersu Sasma and USA’s Jacob Wooten, all of whom have leaped 5.9 meters or above.
