Jenn Suhr at NYC Media Day |
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jennifer (Stuczynski) Suhr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 5, 1982 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 141 lb (64 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Pole vault | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World finals | 2008 Valencia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National finals | 2005–2010 USA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals | 2008 Beijing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking | 1st (2011) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | outdoor: 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in) (2009, NR) indoor: 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in) (2011, NR) |
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Medal record
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| Updated on July 17, 2009. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jennifer "Jenn" Suhr (née Stuczynski) (born February 5, 1982) is the #1 ranked women's pole vaulter in the World as of 2012 and is coached by her husband Rick Suhr. In the last 2 years, Suhr has jumped the 3 highest marks in the World. She has been the number one ranked American pole vaulter since 2006. She has won a total of 10 US National Championships. She holds the American women's pole vault record both indoors and outdoors. In 2008 she won the U.S. Olympic trials setting an American Record of 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in) and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. Track & Field News named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.
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Suhr was born to Mark and Sue Stuczynski, grocery store owners in Fredonia, New York. 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 title in 2000 as a senior.[1][2]
Suhr attended Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, 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 national championship game. She graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball with 1,819 points; and school record-holder in the 100 meter hurdles, 400 meter hurdles, javelin and high jump. At Roberts she finished her degree in psychology and has started on her graduate degree in school psychology.
As a youth, her father provided critical advice on her performance in all of her sports. Her father was supportive in many different athletic disciplines.
On January 3, 2010, Jenn married her coach Rick Suhr in Rochester NY.[3]
Jenn was introduced to pole vault coach Rick Suhr by Adam Steinwachs where the two teamed up to lead her in to pole vaulting.
In the 2005 USA Indoor Championships in Boston, Suhr entered as an unknown, unseeded competitor and won the US Title having only pole vaulted for 10 months. She went on to set three personal bests eventually clearing 4.35 m (14 ft 3 in). Later that indoor season she won the NAIA indoor national title in the pole vault with a 4.00 m (13 ft 1 in) clearance.
Suhr began her career with her coach Rick Suhr 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, with her clearance of 4.68 m (15 ft 4 in). She captured her first USA Outdoor title with her winning clearance of 4.55 m (14 ft 11 in) at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships. She finished third at the 2006 World Athletics Final.
On May 20, 2007, Suhr broke the American outdoor pole vault record at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California, beating a talented group including an Olympic champion to become the top pole vaulter in the country. She reached the record height of 15 ft 10.5 in (4.84 m), beating the American record set by Stacy Dragila in 2004 by a half inch. She was the only vaulter to clear 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m). She was successful on her first try at 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m).[4]
On June 2, 2007 at the Reebok Grand Prix, she cleared 4.88 m (16 ft 0 in), becoming only the second woman in the world to do so. Suhr cleared 16 feet eclipsing her previous American Record set the month prior by one and a half inched. The only woman who had vaulted higher was the Russian Yelena Isinbayeva, whose world record at the time was 5.01 m (16 ft 5 in). Jenn then tried to vault over Isinbayeva. The bar was raised to 5.02 m (16 ft 6 in), and she almost cleared it on the second of her three attempts.[5]
Suhr won the Indoor U.S. Nationals, which qualified her for the 2008 IAAF Indoor World Championships in Valencia, Spain, where she finished second on a countback to the Russian World Record Holder Yelena Isinbayeva. Both cleared 4.75 m (15 ft 7 in).[6][7]
At the Adidas Track Classic on May 18, 2008 Suhr cleared 4.90 m (16 ft 1 in), breaking her own American record. She missed all three attempts at 5.02 m (16 ft 6 in), which would have been a world record. The U.S. Olympic Committee named her its female athlete of the month for May.[8]
At the U.S. Olympic Trials on July 6, 2008 Suhr cleared 4.92 m (16 ft 2 in), winning the trials and breaking her own American record.[9]
At the Aviva Grand Prix on July 25, 2008 two women attempted the world record in the same meet for the first time in Modern Pole Vaulting. Both Suhr and Isinbayeva were unsuccessful.[10]
At the Olympics in Beijing on August 18, 2008 Suhr finished second to Isinbayeva, clearing 4.80 m (15 ft 9 in). Isinbayeva broke her own world record with a jump of 5.05 m (16 ft 7 in).[11] Jenn Suhr finished with the Olympic Silver Medal and credited her coach Rick Suhr for his strict regimen in coaching for her success preparing her for the competitiveness and high stress of the Olympics.
She set a new American record on February 7, 2009 at the Boston Indoor Games when she cleared 15 ft 9.75 in (4.82 m).[12] Suhr won each Visa Championship Meet and broke her own American record with a vault of 15 ft 10 in (4.83 m) at the US Indoor Nationals in Boston on March 1, 2009 giving her a 7th US Title.[13]
On July 1, 2009 she cleared 15 ft 3 in (4.65 m) at the 2009 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Oregon to win another American title.[14]
On June 27, 2010, Jenn Suhr won the USA Outdoor Gill Women's Pole Vault in Des Moines, Iowa with a vault of 4.89 m (16 ft 1 in). It was her fifth consecutive US outdoor title and was the best mark by any woman vaulter in the world for 2010.[15][16]
On February 27, 2011, Suhr won her tenth national title overall with a win at the 2011 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with another national record clearance of 4.86 m (15 ft 11 in) for the indoor event.[17]
Suhr won Diamond League victories in London and Zurich. While competing in the Diamond League Final in Zurich, Suhr defeated 4 World Champions.
Suhr became the #1 Ranked Pole Vaulter in the World for 2011.
In 2006 Suhr signed a 4-year sponsorship with Adidas. In August 2007, Suhr was signed as a brand spokesperson for Nutrilite, a brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements.[18]
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 Stacy Dragila in 2001.[19]
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