Obiena's mindset on competing with Duplantis anew: ‘I need to win this, I need to beat this guy’
Pole vaulter EJ Obiena admitted to having a sort of mental blackout during the IAAF World Diamond League Athletics Series in Monaco on Friday (Saturday in Manila).
Obiena, who became the first Filipino to land a podium in the elite series with a bronze-medal performance, said it was a lesson he was trying to learn as he continues to bolster his preparations for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old cleared the height at 5.70m on his second attempt behind world record holder Armand Duplantis of Sweden (6.00m) and Ben Broeders of Belgium (5.70m).
He attempted to clear 5.80m but failed.
“Physically I’m there. I’m good. Mentally when it mattered (at clearing 5.80m), my mind just went full retard,” Obiena told Manila Bulletin.
“I don’t know. Kumbaga, nabobo. I’m still trying to understand what happened. I’m trying to fix it so it doesn’t happen again,” he added.
The strong field boasts some of the world’s best, and Obiena just wanted to relish the competition atmosphere for the second time after most sporting events were sidelined due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think everyone in the circuit knows each other na. I know Mondo (Duplantis). We competed a lot of times already. It wasn’t really like, ‘Oh my god, I’m competing with Mondo. It was like, ‘I need to win this. I need to beat this guy’,” he said.
He fell short on that goal, but improved his season performance after posting 5.45m in a silver-medal feat at the 13th Triveneto Meet in Trieste, Italy two weeks ago.
Italy’s Claudio Michel Stecchi came in fourth with 5.50m on his first attempt while reigning Olympic champion Thiago Braz of Brazil finished fifth with 5.50m on his second attempt.
American Sam Kendricks, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medalist, failed to compete after his poles did not arrive on time.
Up next for Obiena is a virtual pole vault competition with fellow Tokyo Olympians Pawel Wojciechowski and Matt Ludwig on Monday.