EJ’s secret plan

The dream is to land a podium finish at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and World No. 4 pole vaulter EJ Obiena realizes the journey won’t be easy to make it come true. World No. 1 Mondo Duplantis looks unbeatable and others in the top 10 are coming on strong, particularly Paris Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis who bagged a silver with a 6.0m clearance at the recent Mondo Classic in Sweden.

Obiena’s immediate goal is to retain the gold at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, on May 27-31. He cleared 5.91m to top the Asian meet in Bangkok in 2023. Breathing down Obiena’s neck to challenge for the Asian crown is World No. 11 Huang Bokai whose personal best is 5.80m. The Chinese bet took seventh at the Paris Olympics where Obiena finished fourth, losing to third placer Karalis on a countback after a tie with both clearing 5.90m.

After the Asian tilt, Obiena will set his sights on the World Outdoor Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sept. 13-21 then the SEA Games in Bangkok on Dec. 7-19. He was second to Duplantis at the previous World Championships in Budapest two years ago and is the defending SEA Games gold medalist.

Obiena is now in Dubai strategizing how to face the future with adviser/benefactor Jim Lafferty. He’s also working out on the track to stay in shape. From Dubai, Obiena will go back to his training base in Formia, Italy, with coach Vitaliy Petrov. Lafferty said Obiena has a “secret plan in the works.”

“Get away from it all and stay in one place,” said Lafferty. “Train daily alone, get his timing down, change of scenery. All he needs is a few weeks to get it right. He showed me tapes of the Mondo Classic, how close he was to great leaps. It’s just putting it together.”

Obiena failed to make it to the World Indoor Athletics Championships and never cleared the qualifying mark of 5.85m in seven competitions this year. Coming from a four-month layoff to recover from a stress fracture in his spine, Obiena had six weeks to qualify when others had about half a year. He crammed and went from Germany to France back to Germany back to France then to Poland, Estonia and Sweden. The stress was unnerving and Obiena paid the price. But while he’s pissed at his inconsistency, Obiena’s motivated to rebound.

Lafferty said six weeks of focused training will put Obiena back on track. “He’s OK, strong and healthy,” said Lafferty. “No more flying around. He just has to vault over and over again to get his reps in.”