Background

Jenn Stuczynski’s rise has been so meteoric, and her star so bright in this Olympic year, it’s hard to remember that she was a complete unknown when she won the national title at the 2005 USA Indoor Championships. Less than 2 ½ years later, on May 20, 2007, she vaulted 15 feet, 10.5 inches to end Stacy Dragila’s 11-year reign as the American Record-holder, and two weeks later, on June 2, broke her own mark when she became the first American woman to vault 16 feet.

At the 2008 adidas Track Classic, on May 18, Jenn once again set an American mark when she jumped 16 feet, 0.75 inches, giving her sole possession of the #2 all-time spot behind only Yelena Isinbayeva. In winning the 2008 Olympic Trials, she bettered her mark yet again with a jump of 16 feet, 1.75 inches.

Ankle and back injuries forced Jenn out of the World Championships mid-competition last summer, but she bounced back at the World Indoor Championships this March to win her first international medal, jumping the same height as Isinbayeva, an indoor personal best of 4.75m/15 feet, 7 inches.

An all-around athlete, Jenn came to the pole vault late. A golfer and softball player as a young girl, she went on to become a New York state high school champion in the pentathlon, and graduated as her college’s all-time leading scorer in basketball. She didn't give vaulting a try until approached by coach Rick Suhr after he saw her hold her own in a pick-up basketball game against men. Raised in the unforgiving winters of upstate New York, Jenn hones her toughness by training all winter in a cold, dimly lit quonset hut, a long tunnel tacked on for the run-up before the last two steps bring her into the main hut, its windows boarded up to preserve what little warmth is provided by a propane heater. “Everything is way outdated,” she says. “Even the radio has a tuner that only goes down, it doesn’t go up. Snow blows in through the door onto the pad. But it’s our training place and we love it. When you’re comfortable, you’re willing to try things, take more risks. This is where I choose to jump.”