Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena with his coach, Vitaly Petrov, at their training camp at the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Cavite, April 7, 2025. Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Filipino pole vault star EJ Obiena is back in the Philippines, and this time, it's not just for a quick visit.

Instead, the two-time Olympian is holding a full-blown training camp -- his first on home soil -- at the Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Cavite. Accompanying Obiena in his training is his inner circle: legendary coach Vitaly Petrov, physiotherapist Christian Ferdinandi, and Saudi Arabian pole vaulter Hussain Al Hizam.

The camp is the latest step in Obiena's preparations for a jam-packed outdoor season that includes major tournaments in China and South Korea, and possibly the Southeast Asian Games later in the year. 

With back-to-back competitions lined up across Asia, Obiena and his team decided to base themselves in the Philippines to eliminate the fatigue of long-haul travel.

"We have Diamond Leagues and the Asian Championships coming up, and we want to avoid jet lag," said Obiena, who is coming off a gold medal finish at an invitational meet in Taiwan. "It's been a while since I trained in the Philippines, and I believe it's a good place. Hopefully, if everything goes well, this could even be a second base."

READ: EJ Obiena 'grateful' as he overcomes foggy conditions to win Taiwan tiff

Obiena had missed out on the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships but he assured that he is fully recovered from a lingering back injury that limited his performance in 2024.

"There's a lot of adjustments for sure," he admitted. "When you've had pain for a year, you adapt your technique around it. Now I have to re-learn and remind myself — hey, there's no more pain."

"Physically, I'm stronger now. I'm killing myself in training trying to be better. Hopefully, it works."

Petrov, who has been coaching Obiena since 2014, also emphasized the importance of rebuilding after the Filipino athlete's injury setback last year.

"EJ had a lot of pain last year," Petrov said. "Now that he's recovering, it's like starting again. We're reconstructing the technique, aiming for stability and precision."

"My dream is for EJ to reach 6.10 meters. That's what we look forward to — stable jumps, good condition, psychological preparation."

Obiena, whose personal best is 6.00-m, isn't obsessing over specific numbers just yet.

"I don't really have a height in mind during training," he said. "Vitaly gives us a focus each session. When you're changing technique, you're not going to jump your highest right away. It's like tennis — you don't hit your fastest serve when adjusting your grip."

READ: Obiena to miss World Indoor Championships, to prioritize outdoor season

For 2025, Obiena's goals are clear: consistency, competitiveness, and redemption.

"I want to be competitive again, be more consistent than last year, and really recover the points I lost. I missed quite a few competitions last year. And of course, I want to defend all the crowns I still hold," he said.

That includes the Asian Championships, which he previously won in Doha and Thailand.

As for the SEA Games, Obiena says it depends on how the season plays out.

"Ideally, I would be (competing). Let's see how the season goes. As my coach said, it's quite long, actually ridiculously long."

Having his full team in the Philippines has created a high-performance environment that Obiena thrives in.

"For me, it's the best. This is really, I think, the ideal situation for me. Have my physio around me to recuperate, have my coach really push me to the limit," Obiena said. 

"And also have Hussein to kind of take the mental load out of some of the days and be competitive. Sometimes forget the training, just boys being boys from time to time. And you kind of enjoy watching someone else suffer while you suffer as well," he added."

The grind for Obiena, though, is relentless and intentional.

"Knowing that everyone else is pushing, you gotta push yourself to the limit. Because that's my edge, I believe," the Filipino Olympian said.

Philippines' EJ Obiena competes in the men's pole vault final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP/File

Obiena also opened up about his deep bond with Petrov, whom he calls one of the most important figures in his life.

"He's definitely one of the closest people in my career, if not the closest. And sometimes we rub each other the wrong way, of course," he said. "It's hard to tell my story without telling Vitaly Petrov. Like I said way before, if he decides to quit, I'm probably gonna be done. It's hard to find a coach that is committed as he is, that has sacrificed."

"One of the other reasons why I push myself the way I push myself is because of him. Because he's so passionate about it. It's like 32 degrees, he's 80 years old, and he's standing in the sun with us in training."

READ: Matt Obiena, cousin of Olympian EJ, carves own name with NCAA pole vault gold

Convincing the iconic coach to travel to the Philippines wasn't easy. Obiena had to prove he was serious.

"First I needed to show him what we have and really make sure that I'm gonna be here focused on training. Not doing something else, not going around attending this and that. He said, okay, you're gonna be here, okay, but you're gonna be focused on training. You can't be doing a lot of different things," he said.

"And he says, okay, but we want this, this certain quality of accommodation, certain level of food, certain level of the training facility. He wanted to see, and I think so far it's at par with what he wants."

Petrov himself admitted he's impressed.

"It's okay — we're feeling good. Good accommodation, good sleeping, good weather," he said. "For me, all okay for start. Only we don't have too much time for preparation."

Obiena's trusted physiotherapist, Ferdinandi, believes the hard work is paying off.

"Mechanically, we've made phenomenal progress. We're just waiting for it to show on the scoreboard this outdoor season," he said.

"We're just pushing forward each and every day. Like, as we said it's tough, and that's what's good about having a good team. You know, even when it's tough, we have to push," Al Hizam said.

"We do very hard training, but we enjoy. In the future, I will have a good memory of this. It's a great story to tell," Ferdinandi added.

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