EJ focuses on outdoor events
EJ Obiena will have a busy season, with the World Athletics Indoor Championships not in his schedule.
“The key is to go into the outdoor season healthy and ready to compete at the highest level,” Obiena said as he dusted off missing the world indoors after failing to clear the required 5.85-meter standard. “It is also important to defend what I have already achieved in these [outdoor] championships.’’
Now ranked No. 4 in the world, Obiena was the bronze medalist in the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon, United States before seizing the silver the year after behind world champion Mondo Duplantis in Budapest, Hungary.
“The indoor season is always a backseat to the outdoor season,” Obiena said. “I will hence prioritize and prepare for the upcoming outdoor competition. This is when I would represent the country in the world championships, Asian championships and the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games.”
After falling short of the world indoor championship qualifying standard in a meet held in Estonia nearly two weeks back, the two-time Asian champion and Asian Games gold medalist has run out of tournaments that will earn him a ticket to Nanjing.
The qualification door to the world indoors will close on March 9.
Next up for Obiena is the Mondo Classic on March 13, which is already outside of the qualification period.
After that, Obiena will defend his continental title for the second time in this year’s Asian championships set in Gumi, South Korea in July and the SEA Games diadem for the third time in Bangkok, Thailand at the end of the year.
Obiena will then attempt to go over the hump in the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan from Sept. 13 to Sept. 21 where defending two-time world champion Duplantis remains the tallest obstacle.
Obiena also bared that he has just recovered from a vertebrae fracture that led to constant back pains prior to the Paris Games last year.
