Ernest John Obiena will march into the outdoor season in great shape as he competes in the men’s pole vault event of the Xiamen Diamond League on Sunday.
No less than his mother, Jeanette, informed DAILY TRIBUNE that the 29-year-old Obiena is back in perfect condition after being hampered by a back injury that greatly hampered his performance in the indoor events.
In fact, Obiena is so focused to redeem himself in the outdoor season that he decided to skip the ICTSI Philippine Athletics Championships from 1 to 4 May at the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
Right now, Obiena is in town as he trains at the Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus City together with his Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov and training partner Hussain Assem Al-Hizam of Saudi Arabia.
“They are happy with the training camp here. He has no more injuries, so they are adapting again,” the elder Obiena said at the sidelines of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex on Tuesday.
“His physical therapists, coaches, and the training partner are here. Well, they’re aiming to have a much better height than the indoor stint because he only had a short amount of time to prepare for the indoor season back then.”
“He will leave this week and go to China for the Xiamen and Shanghai Diamond League. After that, I hope he will be able to come back for another few weeks before going to the Asian Athletic Championships in Korea.”
The elder Obiena said Petrov trained her son gradually to make sure he will be at his best for the Diamond League.
“They’re doing one at a time because of coping with the injury that happened,” the elder Obiena said.
The challenge that awaits him in the Xiamen leg of the Diamond League is topnotch.
Obiena will be competing against the likes of world record holder and multiple-time world champion Armand Duplantis of Sweden, 2024 Paris Olympics silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States, and Paris Games bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece in the biggest annual athletics league in the world.
After the Xiamen leg, Obiena will travel to Shanghai for the second Diamond League leg on 3 May and will join the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea from 27 to 31 May.
Obiena looks to redeem himself after missing out on the final of the Diamond League and falling short in his indoor campaign.
After finishing fourth in the Paris Olympics last year, Obiena opted to recover from his back injury and missed the remaining legs of the Diamond League where he could have been one of the top pole vaulters in the final in Brussels.
In the indoor season, the Asian Games champion wasn’t able to qualify for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China as he ran out of competitions to join to hit the standard height of 5.85 meters before the 9 March deadline.
In a social media post, Obiena declared readiness to redeem himself once the outdoor season starts rolling.
“The sky is clear and the sun is out. Flight 2025 outdoor season ready for take-off,” Obiena said.