At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, the Philippines might only need one entry to win a medal for the first time in history.
Most, if not all, of the best runners from all 83 countries will be at the Eugene, Oregon, meet this weekend. Pole vaulter EJ Obiena will be the only Filipino at the world’s biggest track and field event.
But as the No. 4 men’s vaulter on this year’s world outdoor list. It won’t stop the 6-foot-2 Tokyo Olympian from trying to climb onto the medal podium in his event.
Obiena’s current outdoor ranking of 5.92 meters could help Team Philippines get on the podium for the only time at the World Championships, which will be held July 15–24.
World Athletics puts on a world championship every two years. It is the highest international senior track and field competition outside the Olympics.
“Keep jumping, keep improving. We’ll soon reach our goal with God’s help and hard work,” Obiena wrote on his Facebook page after winning two of his last three outdoor races in a week before going to the US.
The Asian record holder cleared 5.93m in Innsbruck, Austria, on September 11, 2017. He also won the Taby Stavhoppsgala in Sweden and defended his title in the Jump and Fly in Hechingen, Germany. It was the last thing he did to prepare for the World Championships.
Two months ago, at the start of his outdoor season, Obiena won gold at the European City of Sports in L’Aquila, Italy. He was just named a Manileo Outstanding Performer in sports.
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EJ Obiena is a medal threat at Worlds
Ernest John Obiena made history last year when he made it to the final of the pole vault at the Tokyo Olympics. By finishing on the podium, he could make a big splash at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Obiena is the only Filipino athlete at the meet, but he has a good chance of winning the country’s first medal at the event. Which is as important to athletics as the Summer Olympics.
Obiena’s sixth-place finish in the current Diamond League, where his toughest competitors were present. Also, where world champion Mondo Duplantis beat his countrymen in Stockholm, Sweden, was an obvious problem.
Duplantis is the current Olympic champion, and his jump of 6.16 meters is the world record.
Eric Cray, a Filipino-American hurdler, didn’t cut the men’s 400m hurdles. So that Obiena would be the only one in the next world.
Cray was still unbeatable in his favorite event at the Southeast Asian Games for the fifth time in a row. He got 1175 points and was ranked 43rd out of 400 hurdlers in the World Athletics point system. Where only the top 40 got to go to Oregon.
Cray raced for his country in the world championships in 2013, 2015, and 2017. He hopes to make it to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Reading the okbet sports betting odds will give you a full rundown of the odds for each type of bet and how the oddsmakers make them.
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