For third straight year, Obiena to spend holidays training abroad

With no immediate tournaments in sight, Olympic-bound pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena intends to stay in Italy to continue developing a better version of himself.

And that means foregoing the coming Christmas break where Filipino athletes like him go home and spend the season with their families.

“Yes, he won’t be coming home this Christmas,’’ Jeanette Obiena, EJ’s mother, told the Inquirer in Filipino.

Instead, EJ will spend his time rebuilding his foundation under the supervision of coach Vitaly Petrov and improve on his craft while waiting for the next tournament to arrive.

“Right now, there are no scheduled tournaments for the rest of the year. We’re looking at February at the earliest for EJ to compete,’’ the elder Obiena said.

The Asian Indoor Athletics Championships is the next big thing for Obiena, the reigning Asian champion in his event, and that is tentatively set four months from now in Nanjing, China. It was postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak in that country.

Obiena just came out of a monthlong break prior to the resumption of his training early last week at the Centro Di Preparazione Olimpica, a training camp in Formia, Italy.

During his vacation, Obiena played other sports such as tennis, swimming, biking, volleyball, basketball, running and mountain climbing while temporarily staying out of pole vault.

“It (taking up other sports) gives me the hunger to get back to pole vaulting and keep my body in shape at the same time,’’ said Obiena, who spent his time alone after his fellow athletes like Olympic champion, Thiago Braz, went back to Brazil.

Obiena had a great season this year after winning a gold, two silver and three bronze medals in Europe against his toughest competitors in the Tokyo Olympics.

After the Asian Indoor meet, Obiena will proceed with his campaign in the outdoor pole vault season in April.

It will be the third time that Obiena won’t be coming home for Christmas and will remain in Italy until the Tokyo Summer Games in July next year.