Jenn Suhr clears the bar in the pole vault at the Olympic Trials.
AP photo
EUGENE, Ore. — Jenn Suhr’s bid to make the Tokyo Olympics came up short.
The Fredonia native and Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame inductee, who had advanced to the pole vault finals at the Olympic Trials on Thursday, finished fifth at Hayward Field on Saturday.
Suhr, 39, had reached the finals after clearing 4.5 meters to join 11 vaulters seeking to earn three berths on the United States team.
Meanwhile, Katie Nageotte’s vault of 16 feet, 2.75 inches put her on the Olympic team. Her vault was a record at the U.S. track and field trials, as well as a personal best and the best leap in the world this season. It will be Nageotte’s first Olympics after finishing fifth at the trials in 2016. Also making the team is Morgann LeLeux, who finished second with a vault of 15-5, and Sandi Morris, who was third with a leap of 15-1.
Morris is the American record holder in the event and finished with a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics.
A Fredonia Central School graduate, Suhr had reached 10 straight Olympic Games or World Championships, beginning in 2007.
A 2009 CSHOF inductee, Suhr earned a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 and claimed the gold in London in 2012. Upon qualifying for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, she fell ill, which derailed her medal hopes.
