Ernest John Obiena reached the 10th spot in the men’s pole vault world rankings of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Obiena’s ranking went up after winning gold medals in the recent Asian Athletics Championships and Universiade.
Because of this Obiena improved from 15th place last August after getting a performance score of 1277 in the IAAF rankings.
Obiena is also the first Filipino to qualify for 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.
Obiena qualified after he cleared 5.81 meters in the men’s pole vault competition of Salto Con L’asta in Italy on September 3. This went beyond the Olympic standard of 2.80 meters.
The 23-year-old Obiena exceeded his previous record of 5.76 meters during 2019 Summer Universiade in Italy last July.
The 6-foot-2 Obiena cleared the height on his third and last attempt, and bested five others for the gold medal.
Obiena later went for the Asian record by attempting to clear 5.9 meters. but failed to clear the height.
And Obiena will compete in the 30th Southeast Asian Games this November.
Obiena needed five years of intense and dedicated training to make it to the Olympics.
Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association chief Philip Ella Juico said Obiena’s feat was made possible with the help of, “the most modern coaching techniques and support.”
And all these was achieved with help from the Philippine Sports Commission, Ayala Corp, private individuals and most recently, the Management Association of the Philippines.