Jenn Suhr – 2013 - Best Year Ever with many 1st!

Jenn has been very fortunate and blessed with being ranked #1 in the World 2 years in a row (2011, 2012).  2013, has been even more successful both statistically and from a coach’s view.  Throughout the season, I have watched Jenn tackle many 1^st.

Being a Stat Guy I will keep it simple and give you “The Quick Stats”:

-          Recorded the 3 highest jumps in the World

-          Highest jump in the World indoors

-          A perfect undefeated Indoor Season

-          Broke Yelena Isinbayeva’s World Indoor Record by jumping 5.02 (16’5 ½)

-          Won World Championship Silver Medal

-          Highest jump in the World outdoors

In 2013, just 6 months after winning the Olympic Gold for Team USA, Jenn broke the World Record Indoors becoming the highest indoor vaulter the world has ever seen.  It was also 20cm higher than anyone else had jumped in the World for the indoor season.  I knew there was a possibility of a post Olympic letdown but she delivered with impact.  So in a years’ time, she won the Olympics, took Silver in Worlds and broke the World Record (which is the rarest and most coveted prize in all of pole vault).  Jenn started her season in January and finished at the end of August.  In that time frame, it was the first time she jumped over 4.90m (16’1) 3 times, set a World Record Indoors and won a World Silver Medal.  She was voted Track and Field News World athlete of the year this indoor season giving Jenn her best year long pedigree ever.  What a year for her, but more importantly, what a year for American pole vaulting!

But in the end, nothing really matters in pole vault except how high you jump.  It is the only thing that the pole vaulter can completely control.  In conclusion, we have been fortunate to lead the World 4 years in a row with the highest Outdoor jump. 

2013 was a great year!

                                                       2013 World’s Highest Vaults

1.	5.02i WR, WL	Jenn Suhr
2.	4.91 WL (outdoor)	Jenn Suhr
3.	4.90i Area Record	Jenn Suhr
4.	4.90	Yarisley Silva
5.	4.89	Yelena Isinbayeva

Jenn's Arm

The other day, we were driving in Western New York between two canal towns known as Spencerport (my hometown) and Brockport which is 7 miles away.  An interesting challenge came about.   As we were driving along the canal Jenn asked me if I thought I could swim across it.   I said most likely I think I could make it but not really sure because of the 28° temperature.   On top of that, I am the worst swimmer that I know of. 

Quick history lesson, the Erie Canal basically runs over 360 miles from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Buffalo New York.   It varies in width much as a river would.   Basically, it’s a long ways across.   So the challenges continued with:  “could you do this…? could you do that…?”  It escalated to the final challenge…I told Jenn that nobody could ever throw a football over the canal. She claimed that she thought she could throw a softball across the entire distance of the Erie Canal.  Now don’t get me wrong, before Jenn transferred over to track and field her senior year of high school, she was a noted softball player.   She was known to have quite an arm from centerfield to the plate, but this was a much different type of throw.   I was laughing at the thought of it thinking there is no way Jenn or anybody else is ever going to throw a softball across the Erie Canal with it snowing outside at 28 degrees.

I pulled the car over and got out.  Jenn grabbed a softball from the back that she keeps in the car to roll out sore muscles on.  The whole time she was warming her arm up spinning it in circles, I was laughing because we were at one of the wider parts of the canal with a total headwind.   I figured at best the ball might get halfway across.   So the challenge was set.   Jenn started from the car with an approach that looked like a javelin thrower all the way to the edge of the canal in about 4 inches of snow.   As soon as she released the ball I figured I had the challenge easily won.  The trajectory was way too high; the wind coming towards us was certainly going to stop the ball way short.   At first it looked like a 9-iron shot with way too much height, but that ball kept going and going and going!  What looked to be a 9-iron shot started to look more like a five wood shot, then a three wood shot and then a jumbo driver.   It bounced about 2 feet on the other bank rolling across and down the other side. I could not believe it!   I seriously could not believe!   

Growing up next to the canal my whole life my friends and I would try to throw anything across it: footballs, baseballs, rocks, you name it.   Nobody was ever been able to conquer the throw.  When I first got out of the car I was laughing thinking how fun it would be to see her try to make the throw.  When I got back in the car I was laughing thinking that nobody’s ever going to believe me. Whatever the case, somebody on the other side of the canal has a shiny new softball thrown by the Olympic gold medalist on a cold, snowy afternoon.

Suhr Media

As a promise to my wife, Olympic Gold Medalist Jenn Suhr, I am going to start blogging.  She said if she won Gold in London that I needed to blog on a regular basis so today I am going to begin to fulfill that promise. 


I guess it would be appropriate to talk a little bit about media since that has dominated our life after the Olympic Games in London.  Media is an everyday way of life for us.  The question people have asked me the most about media is what coverage have I liked and what coverage have I not liked.  I am also asked what media coverage is accurate and what coverage is inaccurate.  I would say that both these questions are similar. 

Through a little bit of research, I have decided to lead these people to a few media outlet sources that I feel have done an accurate coverage of Jenn and I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTxraacBD-c&noredirect=1

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Rick+Suhr

http://www.playerwives.com/miscellaneous-sports/olympics/jenn-suhrs-husband-rick-suhr/



I, Rick Suhr, am promising to regularly blog even though it is not my nature.  Stay tuned, it might get interesting!

Caution: My wife says I am a lousy writer but a great story teller.

Missing the fun of high school vaulting

As Jenn and I traveled to watch two local high school meets this weekend, I forget how fun it was to coach at that level.  Kids were very excited and fired up to meet Jenn, which is really awesome.  But I forget how fun jumping at the high school level was.  Kids are very resilient from losses and always improve quickly at that age.  They have a certain level of excitement and anticipation to learn.  I still enjoyed coaching at that level more than any level even though I have not done it since 2006. 
It's a great world at the high school level, almost always improving, no promoters, no media, no Internet bashing, no fighting over money, and most of all, hardly any airplanes.  The pro level is a different world, everybody wants something, everybody owes somebody something, and if that isn't enough...then the Internet and national media will provide you all the criticism you will need. 

I still feel high school sports is one of the biggest determining factors in shaping a young athlete's personality and character.  Some day I will return to this level of coaching because of it's excitement and freshness.  As Jenn signed autographs of some 200 kids,  so many of them said, "I want to be just like you".   But as I watched a young high school vaulter jump a p.r. of 11' I said to myself, "I want to be as happy as that kid" as he ran around the pad celebrating.   

Rick Suhr

The Weather Hold Back

Not to appear as some old guy sitting back complaining about the weather but living in the Buffalo-Rochester area trying to train a World-Class Pole Vaulter, I am beginning to look like that old man sitting on the porch and constantly complaining about the weather and what is inadequate about it.  It started in January and February as we recorded the 6th and 7th coldest months ever in our history resulting in us trying to pole vault in conditions that were 'arctic like'.  So cold, that the heating system could not heat the place enough to get any kind of workouts in.

March was no better, and then we entered April hoping to see the sun in the first time in four months and get some outside training in.  We now found ourselves in the rainiest April ever recorded in the history of our area.  Instead of being outside, training, I found myself constantly jumping between two properties trying to keep the basements from flooding.  A task that has pleasantly transferred all the way to May. 

Still waiting  for warm weather, still waiting for some sunshine, and I basically need a canoe to get down the driveway to my training facility.  As for my world class pole vaulter, she is not like one of those old men sitting and complaining about the weather.  She is like one of those old ladies sitting and complaining about old men.