EJ Obiena says ‘lots of work ahead’ after breaking 6-meter pole vault barrier

MANILA, Philippines – The job’s not finished for EJ Obiena.

Hours after he completed a historic 6-meter jump to win gold at the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway, the 27-year-old standout took to social media to express his mixed feelings of disbelief and joy on becoming the first Asian pole vaulter to achieve the feat.

“It all started with a dream to jump over 5m and set the National Record to now be the [28th] person all-time to go over the 6m barrier and the first ever Asian/Filipino,” he wrote on Sunday, June 11.

“It took a few moments to sink in. But when it did, tears began to fall, there was no greater shoulder to cry on than my coach, Vitaliy [Petrov]. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

However, Obiena knows there is still a very long road ahead, especially with the 2024 Paris Olympics getting ever closer.

“Still a lot of work ahead and still a long season. Just happy and proud to be part of the 6m club,” he continued after leaving behind his old 5.94m record in the dust.

Obiena etched his name in the history books after a sensational run in Norway on Saturday, June 10, when he needed just a single try to clear 5.76m, 5.82m, 5.94m, and finally, the 6m threshold.

American KC Lightfoot cleared the 6m mark along with him, but ultimately settled for silver after needing two attempts to clear the bar.

Despite the record-breaking performance, Obiena indeed has a lot of boxes left to tick in his already illustrious career, including earning his first Olympic medal and getting out of the shadow of Swedish phenom Mondo Duplantis, who currently owns pole vault world record of 6.22 meters.

Up next for Obiena is the Olympic qualification period, where he needs to clear a standard 5.82 meters starting July 1 to book a trip to Paris.

– Rappler.com