Jennifer Lynn Suhr (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Stuczynski; born February 5, 1982) is an American former

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...

er. She has been an Olympic and World champion, has been ranked #1 in the World, has been the #1 American pole vaulter since 2006, and has won a total of 17 US National Championships (7 Indoor, 10 Outdoor). She holds the world indoor pole vault record at . She holds the American women's pole vault record indoors. In 2008, she won the U.S. Olympic trials, setting an American record of and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. She won the gold medal at the London Olympics on August 6, 2012. '' Track & Field News'' named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.

Biography

Suhr was born to Mark and Sue Stuczynski, grocery store owners in

Fredonia, New York Fredonia is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 9,871 as of the 2020 census. Fredonia is in the town of Pomfret south of Lake Erie. The village is the home of the State University of New York at Fredonia ...

. The grocery store was previously owned by her grandfather, "Bunk" Stuczynski. She got involved in sports at a young age, playing softball at age 6. At 9, she competed in an adult golf league with her grandfather. At Fredonia High School, she played softball, basketball, soccer, and track and field, and won the New York State

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of ...

title in 2000 as a senior."Riga's Jenn Stuczynski vaults onto world stage"
''Democrat and Chronicle'', August 3, 2008. Suhr attended Roberts Wesleyan University in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where she competed in basketball and track and field. She averaged 24.3 points and 6.7 rebounds a game for Roberts Wesleyan in 2003–04, taking her team to the

NCCAA The National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) is an association of Christian universities, colleges, and Bible colleges in the United States and Canada whose mission is "the promotion and enhancement of intercollegiate athletic ...

national championship game. She graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball with 1,819 points. On January 3, 2010, Jenn married her coach,

Rick Suhr Richard "Rick" Suhr (pronounced like "sure", born 1967) is an American Olympic level pole vaulting coach in Rochester, New York who coached the #1 women's vaulter in the World from beginner to World #1 two years in a row. He has been awarded the ...

, in Rochester.

Pole vaulting career

2004

Jenn began pole vaulting with coach

2005

In the 2005 USA Indoor Championships in Boston, Jenn Stuczynski entered as an unknown, unseeded competitor and won the US title having only trained for 10 months. She went on to set three personal bests, eventually clearing on her first attempt to leapfrog from a tie for third. Later that indoor season she won the NAIA indoor national title in the pole vault.

2006

Suhr began her career with her coach

providing financial support to her by re-mortgaging his home. Suhr started the 2006 indoor season with personal bests at nearly every meet and becoming the #2 American all time, behind only

Stacy Dragila Stacy Renée Dragila (née Mikaelson; born March 25, 1971) is an American former pole vaulter. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple world champion. Early life Dragila was born and raised in Auburn, California, northeast of Sacramen ...

, with her clearance of . She captured her first USA Outdoor title with her winning clearance of at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships. She finished third at the 2006 World Athletics Final.

2007

Suhr won the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston on February 25, 2007. On May 20, 2007, Suhr broke the American outdoor pole vault record with a clearance of at the

Adidas Track Classic The Adidas Track Classic is an American track and field athletics meeting which has taken place annually in Carson, California since 2005. The meeting forms part of the USA Track & Field Visa Championship Series and is also one of the few area meeti ...

in Carson, California, beating the previous record set by

in 2004 by one centimeter. Two weeks later, at the

Reebok Grand Prix The USATF New York Grand Prix is an annual athletics meeting held at Icahn Stadium in New York City, United States. First started in 2005 as the Reebok Grand Prix and then Adidas Grand Prix, it was previously one of the IAAF Grand Prix even ...

on June 2, 2007, Suhr cleared , breaking the American record for a second time and becoming the second highest vaulter in history behind Russian Yelena Isinbayeva. Suhr then attempted a new world record vault of – one centimeter higher than Isinbayeva's record at the time – but failed on three attempts at the height. Suhr took her second national outdoor title at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

with a vault of , her only successful clearance of the competition The victory secured Suhr a place on the US team for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, held in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Competing in her first major global championship, Suhr finished in 10th place in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, with a clearance.

2008

Suhr won the Indoor U.S. Nationals, which qualified her for the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's pole vault in Valencia, Spain, where she finished second on a countback to Yelena Isinbayeva. Both cleared . At the Adidas Track Classic on May 18, 2008, Suhr cleared , breaking her own American record. She missed all three attempts at , which would have been a world record. The U.S. Olympic Committee named her its female athlete of the month for May.U.S. Olympic Committee honors Stuczynski, Observer, June 26, 2008
Observertoday.com. Retrieved on August 19, 2013. At the U.S. Olympic Trials on July 6, 2008, Suhr cleared , winning the trials and breaking her own American record. At the Aviva Grand Prix on July 25, 2008, two women attempted the world record in the same meet for the first time. Both Suhr and Isinbayeva were unsuccessful. At the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

on August 18, 2008, Suhr finished second to Isinbayeva, clearing . Isinbayeva broke her own world record with a jump of . Suhr finished with the silver medal and credited her coach

for his strict regimen in preparing her for the competitiveness and high stress of the Olympics.

2009

She set a new American record on February 7, 2009, at the

Boston Indoor Games The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, formerly known as the Boston Indoor Games, is an annual indoor track and field meet which is held in late January or early February at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. It was first held in Roxbury, a ...

when she cleared . Suhr won each Visa Championship Meet and broke her own American record with a vault of at the US Indoor Nationals in Boston on March 1, 2009, giving her a 7th US Title. On July 1, 2009, she cleared at the

2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place between June 25–28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. The competition acted as a way of selecting the United States team for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin later ...

in Oregon to win another American title. Suhr was forced to withdraw from the US team for the 2009 world championships in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

with an

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ...

injury.

2010

On June 27, 2010, Suhr won the USA Outdoor Gill Women's Pole Vault in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

, with a vault of . It was her fifth consecutive US outdoor title and was the best mark by any woman vaulter in the world for 2010.

2011

On February 27, 2011, Suhr won her tenth national title overall with a win at the 2011

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

with another national record clearance of for the indoor event. Her run of five consecutive national outdoor titles was ended by Kylie Hutson at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, with Suhr finishing in second place with a vault. Suhr cleared – the highest vault of the year – in Rochester, New York on July 26. She subsequently finished in fourth place at the world championships in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

with a leap of . Suhr also took

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

victories in London and Zurich during the season, defeating 2011 world champion

Fabiana Murer Fabiana de Almeida Murer (born 16 March 1981) is a retired Brazilian pole vaulter. She holds the South American record in the event with an indoor best of 4.82 m and an outdoor best of 4.87 m, making her the fourth highest vaulter eve ...

and three other former world champions in the latter competition. Track & Field News ranked Suhr the number one women's pole vaulter in the world for 2011.

2012

She opened 2012 with an American record clearance of 4.88 m at the Boston Indoor Grand Prix, re-establishing herself as the second highest female vaulter of all-time. She won the USATF Indoor Championships in Albequerque on Feb 25 with a vault of 4.63. A meet record of 4.65 m followed in the outdoor season at the Drake Relays in April. On June 24, Suhr won the Olympic Trials (and the United States Championships) to qualify for her second Olympic games. On August 6, 2012, Jenn Suhr won the gold medal in the women's pole vault at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, defeating

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

Yarisley Silva Yarisley Silva Rodríguez (born 1 June 1987) is a Cuban pole vaulter. She won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics – the first Latin American athlete to win an Olympic medal in that event. Silva became the first Cuban woman to reac ...

on countback after both competitors had cleared 4.75 m.

2013

On March 2, 2013, Suhr broke Yelena Isinbayeva's world indoor record (set on February 23, 2012, in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

) at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

, with a vault of 5.02m (16 ft. 5.5 in.), becoming the 2nd woman in history to vault over 5 meters. Suhr won

2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 20–23 in conjunction with the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champions ...

in . Suhr earned silver medal at 2013 World Championships in Athletics – Women's pole vault in .

2014

Suhr earned silver medal at 2014 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in . Suhr won 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in . Suhr finished 5th in 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's pole vault in .

2015

Suhr won 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in .

2016

Suhr broke her own women's indoor pole vault world record at a Division III track and field meet at the State University of New York at Brockport on January 30 with a jump of .
Suhr earned silver medal at

2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The 2016 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships was held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Organised by USA Track and Field (USATF), the two-day competition took place from March 11 to March 12 and served as the national champ ...

in .
Suhr won gold medal at 2016 World Indoor Championships in in a world indoor championship meet record. Suhr won the 2016 USA Olympic Trials and competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She came down with a severe illness prior to the competition, and although she passed through the first day of qualifying without a problem, she finished in seventh place, below initial expectations. Doctors were never able to identify the cause of Suhr's symptoms.

2022

Suhr announced her retirement in June 2022. Over the course of her career, Jenn Suhr won 17 USA National Championships, 7 indoor and 10 outdoor which included every outdoor national championship from 2006 to 2016 except for 2011

Sponsorship

In 2006 Suhr signed a 4-year sponsorship with Adidas. In August 2007, Suhr was signed as a brand spokesperson for

Nutrilite Nutrilite is a brand of mineral, vitamin, and dietary supplements developed in 1934 by Carl F. Rehnborg. Nutrilite products are currently manufactured by Access Business Group, a subsidiary of Alticor whose products are sold via Amway worldwide ...

, a brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements.

Awards and honors

'' Track & Field News'' named Suhr the American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008. No male vaulter has ever won the American honor and the only other female winner was

in 2001.DiVeronica, Jeff (January 10, 2009
"Stuczynski named Female Athlete of Year by 'Track & Field News'"
''Rochester Democrat and Chronicle''.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suhr, Jenn 1982 births Living people People from Fredonia, New York Track and field athletes from New York (state) American female pole vaulters Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States World Athletics Championships medalists Roberts Wesleyan College alumni American people of Polish descent Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States World Athletics indoor record holders USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games 21st-century American women