Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena in action in the 19th Asian Games. POC-PSC Media Pool.

EJ Obiena's bid to the podium of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games athletics' pole vault got a huge boost after his heart-stopping performance on Saturday.

READ: EJ Obiena overcomes slow start to advance to pole vault finals

The Filipino star was on the verge of elimination in the qualifiers of his event at the Stade de France as he missed both of his initial two attempts in clearing 5.60m.

Obiena was already dealing with physical problems heading into the qualifiers, and while he was eventually able to officially start his second Olympic stint, things didn't look good for the 6-foot-2, World's No.2 pole vaulter.

"When I missed two attempts in my opening height, my world kind of stopped," he told ABS-CBN News' Dyan Castillejo moments after his seventh-place finish that booked him a spot in his event's final.

Obiena initially opted to pass on clearing 5.40m to start the festivities, and just a few minutes later, he was an error away from kissing his hopes of winning an Olympic medal goodbye.

"Things were like: ‘What the hell is going on? How can I do this?' All of this hard work is on one jump, and this is a really bad way to go," he said.

This would have been more than a heartbreak for Obiena especially since aside from the physical hurdles that he was dealing with, the Tondo native was on a roll during his preparations for the Paris summer games.

Following his 11th-place exit in Tokyo three years ago, Obiena won countless medals and was even able to tally what arguably is the biggest feat of his career — clearing 6.0 meters in last year's Bergen Jump Challenge in Norway.

READ: Joining 6-meter club a dream come true for EJ Obiena

Guiding him in that record-setting jump was his coach Vitaly Petrov, and it allowed him to stamp his name into the historic 6-meter club.

Fast forward to the Olympics, it was Petrov who again boosted Obiena's campaign. And while it came in an entirely different situation, it was equally, if not, even more important than the coaching that he had been receiving from the Ukrainian coach. 

"I needed to make 5.70m. I trusted Vitaly. He made those calls and he said: ‘Move up, be sure,' He was very calm, the way he said it, and I believed in him a lot," revealed Obiena.

It eventually allowed him to slay not only the aforementioned height but also 5.75m, and this revived Obiena's path to a possible medal finish.

"All that matters is I make it. The second [jump] after that got a little bit easier, of course, because I'm not stressed anymore," he expressed.

"The nerves for the 5.70m were done. One jump for all those three years of work, it definitely took a toll, then after that, I was a little bit relaxed and better overall," he continued.

Obiena was one of the 10 pole vaulters from loaded Group A who advanced to the Finals which will feature the qualifiers' Top 12.

Among his opponents on August 6 at 1 a.m. are Sweden's Armand Duplantis, Greece's Emmanouil Karalis, and USA's Sam Kendricks. — With reports from Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News/POC Media