FIVE athletes of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Assiciation (Patafa) resumed their relentless pursuit for berths to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in various qualifiers overseas despite the coronavirus outbreak.
Pole vaulted EJ Obiena, on the other hand, is now mapping out with his personal coach, Ukrainian Vitali Petrov, their general preparation plans for the Filipino pole vaulter’s Olympic stint. Obiena already qualified for Tokyo 2020 and his plans center around competitions and training in Chula Vista in California and Europe.
Obiena, who jumped 5.80 meters to qualify for Tokyo, was all set to compete in the Asian Indoor Championships and the World indoor Championships in March, but both events were set in China and were rescheduled by World Athletics (formerly International Alliance of Athletics Federations) because of the outbreak.
Obiena and Petrov will reveal their revised program on Tuesday.
Three-time Southeast Games 400-meter hurdles gold medalist Eric Cray, meanwhile, has a strong chance of qualifying for Tokyo 2020. He needs to meet the qualifying standard of 48.80 seconds or make the world’s top 50 by the end of the qualifying date of June 29. The qualifying period started May 1 last year.
Like Obiena, Cray was forced to adjust his preparations after the postponement of the two major championships in China.
Cray competed in two indoor meets in New Mexico and ran the 400 m to work on strength and endurance before the US outdoor season starts in March. He ended the indoor season this month with a time of 47.80 seconds in the 400 meters and will be competing in several top-notch races in the US in the next four or five months.
Indiana University-based William Morrison also achieved a distance of 20.21 meters in the shotput in a meet in Indiana earlier this month. The new Philippine record compared favorably with the Tokyo 2020 qualifying standard of 21.10 meters.
In a phone conversation Morrison had with Patafa President Philip Ella Juico earlier this month, Morrison expressed confidence in meeting the qualifying standard “with a lot of hard work and technical adjustments.”
Florida-based Kristina Knott, who won the 30th SEA Games 200-m gold medal, also tinkered with her program. She will compete in the Texas relays and then move to Orlando, Florida, to train until the rest of the outdoor races are confirmed for April and beyond.
Knott will also compete in San Antonio and Austin, all in Texas, and in Japan and Italy.
Pole vaulter Natalie Rose Uy, the 30th SEA Games pole vault champion and bronze medalist in the Asian Championships in Doha last year, recently set a new Philippine indoor record of 4.25 m.
Uy, now based in Kentucky under Coach Becky Holliday, also competed at the Pole Vault Summit in Nevada.
SEA Games surprise marathon winner Christine Hallasgo also proved her victory was no fluke by winning the Milo National Marathon early month in Tarlac City.