By Ivan Suing
Copyright tribune
Making the Filipinos proud will be the order of business when Ernest John Obiena battles eight of the world’s best pole vaulters in the Atletang Ayala World Ole Vault Challenge at the Ayala Triangle in Makati City on Sunday. After struggling in his past couple of tournaments, the 29-year-old Obiena aims to deliver a masterclass in front of local fans in this prestigious event that is sanctioned by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association and offers valuable ranking points from World Athletics.Prior to the main event, local stars collided for pride and glory as they vaulted against the beautiful Makati skyline at the National Pole Vault Competition on Saturday.Filipino-American Alyana Nicolas emerged victorious in the women’s category with 3.80 meters while Amy Christensen settled for the silver medal with 3.70 meters ahead of Jia Kawachi and Jessa Libres, who shared the bronze with identical 3.40 meters.Meanwhile, Hokett delos Santos, who will also compete in the World Pole Vault Challenge, dominated the men’s side by clearing five meters while national team veteran Janry Ubas took the silver medal over Mejen Sombongan due to countback despite both men tallying 4.45 meters. Obiena said the big stars like world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden and Olympic medalists in Sam Kendricks of the United States and Emmanouil Karalis of Greece will not be around, but the event will not run out of intensity and drama that only a street-style pole vault event can provide.“More than experiencing this event myself, I’m excited to give this experience to Filipino sports fans. Like I said, the country deserves this. Filipinos deserve to enjoy this level of competition, to have something to cheer for,” said Obiena, a veteran of street pole vaulting in Europe.“It’s amazing. So far, so good. We’re hoping for the weather to cooperate and I think everybody’s looking forward to jumping tomorrow.”Leading the cast of competitors are French powerhouse Thibaut Collet and Dutch flyer Menno Vloon, who are fresh from posting their respective season’s best performance. Collet soared to 5.90 meters in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last week while Vloon posted an impressive 5.92 at the 2025 ISTAF World Cup in Berlin last July, giving them a handsome chance to challenge Obiena, whose personal best is 6.0 meters that he posted two years ago.Obiena, however, is struggling lately and even bombed out of the finals of the World Championships with an underwhelming performance of 5.55 meters.Also part of the start list of this event backed by Ayala Foundation and MVP Sports Foundation are Ersu Sasma of Turkey, Ben Broeders of Belgium, Austin Miller and Matt Ludwig of the United States, Piotr Lisek of Poland, and Oleg Zernikel of Germany.
