Massimo Bertocchi was looking forward to competing for the first time in two years.
But the Olympic decathlete from Toronto will have to wait another day after a bomb scare forced the evacuation of Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday.
Bertocchi, one of several Canadian athletes scheduled to compete in the Cal State L.A. Twilight Open, was warming up to throw discus when sirens sounded on the campus.
"We were told a bomb threat was called in," Bertocchi said. "Then maybe 12 or 13 police cars showed up, there were about four helicopters in the air. They evacuated everyone from the dorms."
The entire campus of about 20,000 was evacuated and school officials said it was unlikely it would re-open Thursday. The incident came three days after Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170.
"I'm just guessing from what has happened they're taking everything very seriously ... not that they wouldn't before, but they're maybe just taking more precautions," Bertocchi said.
The 27-year-old competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics before a back injury sidelined him for two seasons.
"It would have been my first meet back from injuries, so it's sort of disappointing something like this would happen," he said. "Mainly from 2011 on, I haven't been able to compete so I was super excited for this one."
Sarah Wells of Toronto, a member of sa国际传媒's 2012 Olympic team, was slated to open her outdoor season Thursday in the 400-metre hurdles.
"I'm a little disappointed," she said. "I had set it up so that I raced tonight, had a day off and then raced in the elite section at Mt. SAC (Relays) on Saturday. So it would have been an opportunity for me to have a race that didn't mean that much and so if I made a mistake, I could learn that lesson and correct it for the next race, which would be a way bigger deal."
The bomb threat was the second in two days in Los Angeles, as a radio station was evacuated on Wednesday. The threat was a hoax.
"With Boston being so close, obviously everyone's on high alert," Wells said of Thursday's scare. "I would hope that this is kind of a coincidence that maybe just had to do with academics, that someone just didn't want to write an exam. Who's to say? I'm not too concerned."
