EJ Obiena and his team were praised by Philippine track and field officials after a record-breaking performance on Saturday in the Golden Roof meet in Innsbruck.
Obiena broke a 23-year Asian record when he cleared 5.93 meters, beating the mark of Igor Potapovich of Kazakhstan by one centimeter.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico said the persistence of Obiena, his coach Vitaly Petrov, and father Emerson Obiena even after the Tokyo Olympics where he finished 11th were key in the Filipino pole vaulter's progress.
Obiena will next see action in the International Stadionfest in Berlin, Germany on Sunday.
“We are hoping for another outstanding performance,” Juico said.
EJ Obiena
“The outstanding improvement in Obiena’s performance is certainly due also to the technical adjustments made by coach Vitaly and executed by Obiena,” said Juico in a statement. “Even minor and subtle adjustments, unnoticed by ordinary laymen like us, can become a game changer and turning point at the highest level of a very technical and dangerous event like pole vault.
“These changes make a big difference in an individual event like pole vault. You can only depend on yourself and on no one else’s execution of that person’s role as is the case in team sports. We believe Obiena is working towards consistency in his performance and a more robust mental toughness plan of action,” said Juico.
“I would also like to cite the continuing substantial financial and administrative and moral support, of the Philippine Sports Commission and Chairman Butch Ramirez and the PSC Commissioners. The PSC has been readily extending over the past five years all these assistance despite being confronted by its own challenges and by uninformed critics. Such assistance was coursed through the Patafa which transparently administers these funds such as the fees of Obiena’s coach, Bitaly Petrov, reputedly the doyen of pole vault coaching. Vitaly was personally recommended by another pole vault icon, Sergey Bubka, at my request in 2014.
“Ayala Corporation also lent a big hand in 2017- 2018 to support Obiena after successful discussions with Ayala’s top officials that included Jaime Augusto Zobel, himself a middle distance runner in his college days.”
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