EJ Obiena said yesterday he’ll open the outdoor season possibly in the first week of June while now focusing on intense training to regain his lofty standing in the world pole vault ladder. Once ranked No. 2, Obiena has dropped to No. 12 but is gearing to slowly break back into form. ‘We opt to start later to have ample time to prepare and work on things,’ said Obiena from his base in Formia, Italy.
The outdoor season hasn’t started and the schedule of competitions is still not set. ‘EJ aims to do many of the Diamond League meets,’ noted 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. 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.’
Obiena’s plan is to stay in Formia for hard training without enduring the hassles of travel. ‘He’s in the loading phase now,’ continued Lafferty. ‘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.’
The strategy is to skip the first weeks of the outdoor season and concentrate on reps. ‘When EJ starts, he’ll be in a strong place,’ said Lafferty. ‘During indoors, he was literally the only guy on the tour who had to compete in December. Everyone else was working on jumps and preparing. We have to take time to just train. Competitions throw everything off. You have to keep peaking and the travels are tough. He’s now doing it right, six weeks of just training.’