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EJ Obiena happy to be part of pole vault's 6-meter club
Filipino Olympian and pole vaulter EJ Obiena on Sunday (Philippine time) celebrated his newest career achievement — clearing the six-meter mark.
Obiena achieved the feat on Saturday in the Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway where he topped the competition.
"It all started with a dream to jump over 5m and set the National Record to now be the 24th person all-time to go over the 6m barrier and the first ever Asian/Filipino," he wrote in the caption of his Instagram post.
According to the World Athletics website, there have been 24 pole vaulters prior to Obiena who cleared the six-meter mark. The Asian record holder joins a list that includes names such as Sergey Bubka, Thiago Braz, Sam Kendricks, and Mondo Duplantis.
The world no. 3 in pole vault also described the moment and paid tribute to his coach Vitaliy Petrov.
"It took a few moments to sink in. But when it did, tears began to fall, there was no greater shoulder to cry on than my coach, Vitaliy. Couldn’t have done it without you."
"Still a lot of work ahead and still a long season. Just happy and proud to be part of the 6m Club," added Obiena.
—Justin Kenneth Carandang/JMB, GMA Integrated News
