There’s no stopping EJ

MANILA, Philippines — Fresh from bagging his second Asian Games gold medal, pole vaulter EJ Obiena will be back in training camp in Athens by the end of next week preparing for the start of the indoor season in January.

Obiena arrived in Manila Wednesday night with coach Marcin Szczepanski then returned to Nagoya to rejoin the Philippine delegation. He’ll be back in Manila again before leaving for Athens. At 30, retiring is far from Obiena’s mind. “I’ll jump until I can’t,” he said. “I’m enjoying camp like I did five or six years ago. I’m excited to compete and not closing the door to anything, taking it one year at a time. I’m training with younger guys but I’m recovering better than them. I feel great. I know I can’t jump forever and time will come when my body will tell me it’s over. But that’s far from happening.”

In Athens, Obiena trains alongside World No. 2 pole vaulter Emmanouil Karalis and two-time Olympic long jump gold medalist Miltos Tentoglou. “We challenge each other in training,” he said. “They’re two of the best athletes in the world. Karalis’ style is different from mine, he’s stronger and powerful while I’m more finesse and lean. Camp starts this weekend. The other guys ended their season three weeks ago so they’re coming off a break. Because of the Asian Games, I’m arriving late. What I’m excited about are the things I’m learning from coach Marcin, experimenting with new techniques like using a higher grip and stiffer poles. I’m working on consistency to jump higher. No holiday break but I’m hoping to take some time off to visit Vitaly (Petrov) when (girlfriend) Caroline (Joyeux) goes to camp in Italy.”

Obiena has qualified to compete at the World Championships in Beijing on Sept. 10-19 but beyond that event, what’s in his sights is the 2028 LA Olympics. The previous qualifying standard for Paris was 5.82m. It’s still not certain what the mark will be for LA. What’s sure is there will be 36 vaulters, four more than in Paris. The qualifying period starts 14 months before the Olympics.

In Nagoya, Obiena said skipping his third jump at 5.80m and declining 5.85m and 5.90m to go for a new Asiad record of 5.91m wasn’t a snap decision. “I believed I could do it and so did coach Marcin,” he said. “I had already won the gold but it wasn’t as if I had nothing to lose. I needed to do it to get back at the elite level. I aborted my first jump at 5.80m because my take-off was too close and my adjustment on the second jump wasn’t good enough. But I couldn’t end it with 5.75m so I went for broke. Since I was the only jumper left, I had a five-minute window to get the crowd going, refocus and wait for the right wind.”

Obiena said the bruises he sustained on his arm and leg before the competition were minor. “I was doing drills on the hallway of our hotel and fell,” he said. “Just carpet burns, no big deal. I got up and went back to the drills. It’s a one-hour drive to practice and we only get 40 minutes to work out then we go back to the hotel for another one-hour drive. So we decided to just limber up at the hotel.” What was challenging was competing under wet conditions. “Rain is never fun but I think being a veteran helped,” he said. “Knowing what to do and stay warm.”