A handful of familiar and formidable rivals await Ernest John Obiena in the Fly Athens Street Pole Vault at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on Monday.

The 30-year-old Obiena will compete in an eight-man field on Monday at 12 a.m. (Manila time) as he goes for a third straight gold medal in the outdoor season.

Obiena is coming off an exemplary performance at the Raiffeisen Austrian Open in Eisenstadt, Austria, last Thursday, where he set a new meet record of 5.75 meters.

Last June, the defending Asian Games champion also won the Memoriał Czesława Cybulskiego in Poland.

However, Obiena will face an acid test in the Fly Athens Street Pole Vault as he takes on a stacked field, even without world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden competing in the tournament.

Home favorite and world No. 2 Emmanouil Karalis is expected to put on a show in front of the local crowd.

Also competing are Renaud Lavillenie of France, Menno Vloon of the Netherlands, Bo Kanda Lita Baehre of Germany, Ersu Şaşma of Turkey, and Christopher Nilsen of the United States, the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics.

Obiena, now based in Greece, is doing his best to prepare as he gears up for the 2026 Asian Games in Japan from 19 September to 4 October