EJ’s dream to inspire

There are now pole vault pits in Laoag, Ilocos Norte and Tagum, Davao del Norte with a third location coming up in the Visayas. World No. 4 pole vaulter EJ Obiena has made it a mission to promote the sport in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, setting as a goal the development of athletes to follow in his footsteps.

“It’s my personal project,” said Obiena who’s competing against 10 vaulters, including eight in the world’s top 10 rankings, in the first leg of the Diamond League series in Xiamen, China, tomorrow. “We’re working with Milo and LGUs to conduct coaching clinics and seminars. In Laoag, more than 10 coaches attended our first session and in Tagum, about eight. In each clinic, 25 kids came, some as young as eight years old and some were college students. It’s a good start. We’ve signed MOAs with LGUs to make the pits open to the public and help us create interest in pole vault. We’re excited to do this.”

The Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, where Obiena stayed for three weeks with Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov before leaving for Xiamen last Thursday, looms as the center of elite pole vault training in the country. It’s also where an international pole vault competition will be held on May 6. Obiena said he’s not competing at Vermosa as Petrov intends to set up camp in Korea to prepare for the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi on May 27-31. But if his schedule opens up, Obiena said he’d like to attend the Vermosa meet despite not competing.

Fil-Am Elijah Cole, 27, and three-time national champion Hocket de los Santos, 22, are booked to jump at Vermosa. Expected to join are athletes from Malaysia, Thailand and other countries. “Vermosa is a world-class facility and wind is not much of a factor,” said Obiena. “It’s a test for Elijah and Hocket. I think they’ll be ready for the SEA Games in December.” Cole’s personal best is a 5.41 clearance while De los Santos’ best is 5.15.

Xiamen kicks off the Diamond League 14-leg series leading to the final in Zurich on Aug. 27-28. From Xiamen, the league will go to Shanghai, Doha, Rabat (Morocco), Rome, Oslo, Stockholm, Paris, Oregon, Fontvieille (Monaco), London, Chorzow (Poland), Lausanne, Brussels and finally, Zurich. In the pole vault entry list for Xiamen are No. 1 Mondo Duplantis, No. 2 Sam Kendricks, No. 3 Emmanouil Karalis, Obiena, No. 5 Ersu Sasma, No. 6 Kurtis Marschall, No. 8 Sondre Guttormsen, No. 9 Ben Broeders, No. 10 Menno Vloon, No. 13 Huang Bokai and No. 34 Li Chenyang.