Redemption time

After four years, Ernest John Obiena will return to the site of his bittersweet Olympic participation when he competes in the men’s pole vault event of the World Athletics Championships 2025 at the Japan National Stadium in bustling Shinjuku City in Tokyo.

Obiena, who struggled to stay healthy that prompted him to fall from No. 2 to No. 7 in the world ranking, will shoot for redemption via a morale-boosting victory at 6:05 p.m. against a constellation of stars, including world record holder Armand “Mondo” Duplantis and the fast-rising Emanouil Karalis of Greece.

If ever he makes the cut, he will return to the field for the final on Monday at 6:49 p.m.

The ongoing outdoor season has been brutal for the 29-year-old Filipino superstar.

In fact, he is having a hard time stepping on the podium of his past several events, sending him crashing out of the final of the Diamond League in Zurich where he used to be one of the heavy contenders.

He struggled in the Diamond League leg in Xiamen with 5.62 meters on 26 April followed by a fifth-place finish in Shanghai with 5.72 meters on 3 May. He also registered a “No Mark” in Oslo on 12 June and finished seventh in Stockholm on 15 June after clearing only 5.70 meters.

Fortunately for him, he ended his slump with a bronze medal in the World Athletics Continental Tour-Beijing, in which he posted 5.62 meters — a mark that is still far from his personal best of 6.0 meters that he achieved in the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway two years ago.

That’s why it is only fitting for him to finally get the monkey off his back in Tokyo — the exact venue where he made his Olympic debut in 2021.

His previous Tokyo stint was truly unforgettable, not just because he finished sixth with 5.80 meters, but because he had proven to the world that he can hold his ground against the likes of Duplantis, Christopher Nilsen of the United States and Thiago Braz of Brazil, his former training partner.

“Next stop: Tokyo,” said Obiena in a recent social media post, signifying his excitement to return to the site of his bitter setback that inspired him to work hard until he became the world No. 2 and record holder both in the Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games two years later.

But the battle that awaits him in Tokyo isn’t easy.

Duplantis remains untouchable at the top. In fact, he is marching to warzone not just to win the gold medal, but to break his world record for the 14th time while reminiscing about the memories of the “apocalyptic” staging of the Olympics four years ago.

“It was just strange for everyone, very apocalyptic almost, in a way,” said the 25-year-old US-born Swedish, who is fresh from resetting his world record to 6.29 meters in Budapest last month followed by a title conquest in the Diamond League.

“In a lot of ways, it’s not enjoyable and just scary.”

Aside from Duplantis and Karalis, also in the start list are former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France as well as Obiena’s training partners under Ukrainian legend Vitaly Petrov in Bokai Huang of China and Hussain Asim Al Hizam of Saudi Arabia.

Australian Kurtis Marschall, Americans Matt Ludwig and Austin Miller, French Thibaut Collet, Dutch Menno Vloon, Turkish Ersu Sasma, Belgian Ben Broeders, German Oleg Zernikel and Polish Piotr Lisek will also be seeing action before joining Obiena in the Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge on 21 September in Makati City.