MANILA, Philippines – Tokyo Olympics-bound pole-vaulter EJ Obiena suffered a minor setback in his training after he felt some pain in the same lower back that slowed him down early this year.
“It was muscle tightness,” Janet Obiena, EJ’s mom, yesterday told The STAR.
Because of it, Obiena, 24, was advised by his Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov to take it slow in his daily grind so as not to aggravate the injury, which he first felt last January after his gold medal-winning performance in the Southeast Asian Games.
Fortunately, Obiena may not need an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) at least for now.
But it may endanger his participation in the Diamond League, which unfurls with the inaugural leg in Morroco in August.
Obiena is currently in Formia, Italy training under Petrov and with 2016 Rio gold medalist Thiago Braz of Brazil as training partner.
He is one of the first Filipinos to book a slot to the quadrennial meet, which was reset to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the others being gymnast Caloy Yulo and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno.