Obiena sets sights on gold

The moment of truth is here for Ernest John Obiena as he aims for a podium finish in the men’s pole vault final of the Paris Olympics scheduled early Tuesday at the Stade de France.

Obiena takes the field at 1 a.m. (Manila time) as he goes up against 11 other medal hopefuls.

Despite some early struggles, the 28-year-old Obiena eventually made the cut after going over 5.75 meters.

“Going to my second Olympic final. Sorry to those who got nervous earlier. I couldn’t explain what happened either,” Obiena said.

Obiena has improved a lot since finishing the Tokyo Summer Games at 11th place with Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany in 2021.

The pride of Tondo, Manila picked up a bronze medal in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon before upgrading to a silver medal a year later in Budapest.

He also defeated Tokyo Games gold medalist Armand Duplantis in the Brussels leg of the Diamond League in 2022 and in the Monaco leg of the Diamond League in 2023.

But his biggest morale booster was going over six meters at the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway last year, putting himself in an exclusive list that includes Duplantis and legendary pole vaulter Sergey Bubka of Ukraine.

Now, Obiena has a chance to finally get that elusive Olympic medal as he faces the likes of Duplantis, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics bronze medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States, Sondre Guttormsen of Norway, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, Ersu Samsa of Turkey, and Germans Lita Baehre and Oleg Zernickel.

Also vying for an Olympic medal are Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, 19th Asian Games silver medalist Huang Bokai of China, Valters Kreiss of Latvia, and Kurtis Marschall of Australia.

Obiena has a chance to break an 88-year wait for an Olympic medal in athletics as Miguel White was the last Filipino to get a podium finish after clinching a bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the 1936 Berlin Games.

He also has an opportunity to add to the country’s growing medal tally in Paris after Carlos Yulo won a gold medal in the men’s floor exercise final and boxer Aira Villegas gets assured of at least a bronze medal after advancing to the semifinal of the women’s 50-kilogram division.