Decathlete and long jumper Janry Ubas has a big chance of joining the country’s top pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena in the Paris Olympics.
The 30-year-old Ubas is one of four tracksters, who have accumulated enough points in the last 12 months to move up in the World Athletics-supervised Olympic qualification rankings for track and field athletes.
After joining a series of international meets last year, Ubas inched up to within the top 23 list of possible qualifiers to the Olympiad in the men’s long jump.
There are already seven athletes who made qualification in men’s long jump after hitting or surpassing the qualification standard of 8.27 meters, while Ubas is among those who are within the world ranking quota.
Ubas’ participation in 15 local and international events saw his world ranking move up from 105 at the start of 2023 to 49 in the first week of 2024.
Because of this big leap in points, Ubas’ 1108 points from last year, became 1171 at the end of the first week of Jan. 2024. He is now no. 20 in the Olympic rankings of the men’s long jump.
To firmly claim a spot in the Paris Olympics, Ubas needs to maintain his position or move higher in the next six months.
“Hopefully, we can put at least one or two more athletes in the Olympics. We are looking, and praying, and hoping for Janry Ubas in the long jump,” said Philippine Athletics Track and Field chief Terry Capistrano.
Aside from Ubas, Capistrano is also looking into the progress of three Fil-Heritage athletes, Lauren Hoffman and Robyn Brown in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, and Spain-based John Cabang in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.
In his last international stint for the year, Ubas shattered the national record of Henry Dagmil back in 2008 of 7.99 meters, with a leap of 8.08 meters.
Ubas, who is from Balubal in Cagayan de Oro, earned points for the Olympics starting early this year with his stints in the Kazakhstan and the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, to go with meets in Taipei, Bangkok and Finland.
Joining local meets organized by the PATAFA, like the National Open and the Philippine National Games, also allowed Ubas to gain needed points to improve his Olympic rankings.
Hoffman, who is from Haymarket, Virginia, has a world quota ranking of no. 31, three ahead of Robyn Brown (34), who is from Chino Hills, California.
The 22-year-old Cabang has a quota rank of no. 29. Cabang finished fourth place in the Asian Games and broke the Philippine national mark with his 13.53-second showing in the Spanish championships.