EJ Obiena motivated to jump 6.10 meters, then 6.15 meters

To become the ‘best athlete my coach has ever trained,’ EJ Obiena says he must surpass pole vault icon and former world record holder Sergey Bubka

MANILA, Philippines – EJ Obiena has set the bar high for himself as he aims to become the best pole vaulter his coach Vitaly Petrov has ever produced.

To achieve that, Obiena said he had to surpass pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, whose former world record of 6.15 meters stood for nearly two decades.

Bubka, who also worked with Petrov during a legendary career that saw him win an Olympic title and several world titles, set his record in 1993, but in 2014 that record was broken when Renaud Lavillenie jumped 6.16 meters.

The world record has been improved 10 more times by Armand Duplantis and now stands at 6.26 metres.

“Right now, my motivation is that I really want to be the best athlete my coach has ever trained,” Obiena said during his meet and greet event at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque on Sunday, September 15. “I have to jump over 6.15.”

Obiena has a personal best of 6.00 meters, making him the first and only Asian to join the exclusive six-meter club.

Last year he reached that height twice when he won gold at the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway and when he took a historic silver at the World Athletics Championships in Hungary.

The next goal is to hurdle 6.10 meters, a height reached by only three pole vaulters in history: Bubka, Lavillenie and Duplantis.

“I think I can jump 6.10. Physically I think I can do it. I just have to do it well. 6.15 is something I want to achieve because like I said, I really want to be the best athlete my coach has ever trained,” Obiena said.

Bubka and Petrov visited the country to attend the meet and greet event that Obiena and his camp put on for his fans after postponing the Philippine International Pole Vault Challenge, originally scheduled for September 20.

Bubka, the person who introduced Obiena to Petrov, said the Filipino star has come a long way since their first meeting ten years ago.

“He was a young boy with good potential. Today he is one of the best pole vaulters in the world. And they work really great and fantastic together with Vitaly. I think this is super great, super results,” Bubka said.

“The Filipino people can be proud. This is great for Philippine sports.”

According to Bubka, Obiena is showing promising results in his attempt to break the 6.15 meters.

“EJ has a lot of potential and I believe he will continue to work hard to achieve the coach’s goals,” said Bubka.

But first Obiena wants to fully recover from the spinal injury that forced him to end his season before returning to action.

“The recovery is going well. We will know in a few weeks. We need to do an MRI and make sure the bone is completely healed, then we can push and train again,” Obiena said – Rappler.com