EJ Obiena has had his ups and downs this season, but compared to last, it’s been encouraging at least. Now, he’s got his sights set on the outdoor season as he looks to regain his lofty standing atop the world pole vault rankings.
The good news? It appears Obiena has had his back issues sorted out. The Filipino pole vaulter once shot up to No. 2 in the rankings but has steadily fallen off the past two years, largely due to back problems that have hampered his performance. Now, those problems might be in the rearview mirror—at least according to Obiena’s adviser, Jim Lafferty.
“High motivation and feeling good. I’m confident he’ll be healthy all season long. We figured out the back situation and it was quite a story,” Lafferty told veteran sports scribe Quinito Henson. “He’s got some other aches and pains, which is normal after a decade at his level. I sense it’s going to be a good season.”
Outdoor Season Is Next for EJ Obiena
A good season will in part depend on how well Obiena performs in the outdoor season, which has no definitive schedule yet but is expected to start in early June. Naturally, Obiena is deep in training and is doing so in Formia, Italy, which has served as his de facto home base.
“We opt to start later to have ample time to prepare and work on things,” said Obiena, who is looking at joining “many of the Diamond League meets,” according to Lafferty.
“He’s in the loading phase now,” Lafferty added. “Not much jumping, just strength and speed work. Then, it will progress to lots of jumping. Coach Vitaly (Petrov) and EJ agreed, and I also agreed. An athlete needs a proper build-up period after off-season. He never had an off-season to just train. He went basically right to the SEA Games, then right to indoors. He didn’t get reps in vaulting, just flying around and never got in a groove.”
Training First and Maybe Winning Later?
Now, Obiena is putting in the work to get in that groove. In fact, he’ll be sacrificing the start of the outdoor season to “take time to just train,” noted Lafferty.
“Competitions throw everything off. You have to keep peaking, and the travels are tough,” Lafferty explained further. “He’s now doing it right—six weeks of just training.”
Now that Obiena is doing things right, it remains to be seen if these measures will ultimately translate into winning.
