THE world athletes who joined the recently concluded Atletang Ayala World Pole Vault Challenge on September 21, had nothing but praise for the Filipino fans, who brought the energy despite the rainy afternoon.

Despite the rains brought by Super Typhoon Nando and the Southwest Monsoon, international pole vault stars — including the Philippines’ own EJ Obiena — delivered an unforgettable sporting spectacle for Filipino fans.

Several of the world’s top-ranked pole vaulters competed at the Ayala Triangle, with Obiena taking the victory, followed by France’s Thibaut Collet in second, and Poland’s Piotr Lisek rounding out the podium.

The Asian record-holder, who brought the sport closer to Filipinos for the first time, was surprised by the large crowd but credited the organizers and sponsors for the event’s successful staging.

“I will be biased, I would say this is the best competition I’ve been in. It is my home meet, so what else am I gonna say,” Obiena told the reporters in attendance during the event. 

A testament to Obiena’s words was silver medalist Collet, who, on his first visit to the country, shared how incredible the crowd was throughout the day.

“In pole vault, we have a lot of competition in the streets around the world. This one was really impressive, because it’s the first time for me to come here,” Collet said, who took silver via countback.

“And yeah, the crowd was amazing. We all know what is it to have a big atmosphere around us, but today was really particular, and it was beautiful and amazing,” he went on to say.

With the success of the country’s first-ever pole vaulting event, Obiena hopes the Philippines will be more open to hosting the sport in the future and bringing it closer to Filipinos and aspiring athletes.

“Hopefully, everybody who organized this is happy and we’ll get a part 2, part 3, maybe have this every year. Now we have these athletes to say how good the Philippines is. Hopefully next time, we’ll bring much more,” Obiena added.