Fri, Jan 11, 2013
In this week’s edition of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix “news extra,†we bring you a peek at the life and career of Jenn Suhr, 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault, and Galen Rupp, the first American to win an Olympic medal at 10,000 meters since Billy Mills in 1964. Jenn and Galen will be two of the headliners when the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix kicks off at 5 p.m. on Feb. 2. We know you’ll be there, so here’s your chance to get to know them a little better. Oh, and also your chance to quit procrastinating and purchase those tickets.
In a pre-Olympic TV interview last year, Jenn’s father recalls thinking his daughter was crazy when she called to tell him she was quitting college to concentrate on pole vaulting.
But since then, things have gone pretty well: for instance, Jenn set yet another American Record at the 2012 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
Jenn adores her Great Pyrenees, Tundra, and her orange cat, Morris. (Sorry, Morris is camera shy). But that barely scratches the surface, according to this USA Today story.
While in London, Jenn was working out when Kobe Bryant stopped to admire some of her moves. The two got talking. Basketball might have come up, given that Jenn was a hoops star at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. The New York Post got the scoop, and Jenn got one heck of a photo for her Facebook page.
After adding a 2012 Olympic gold medal to her 2008 silver, Jenn thanked upstate New York with a three-stop Gold Medal Tour. Her second stop was at her alma mater, where she jumped high and was greeted as a hometown hero.
Galen is only 26 years old, but you’re forgiven if you think he’s been around a lot longer. In 2004, already coached by Alberto Salazar, the young man attempted to break the 4-minute mile as a high schooler. He ran 4:02, but listen to Salazar’s prescient words near the end of this race video. (That same summer, Galen broke Gerry Lindgren’s 40-year-old high school mark for 5000 meters).
Allergies are an issue for Galen, so at times he wears a mask in the early going of outdoor races. Here he is in the 2011 NYC Half, where he flung the mask off midway through the race and finished third in what was his half-marathon debut. His time of 1:00:30 made him the third-fastest American in history at the distance.
No mask when he’s in his backyard running pool, though.
After setting the American Record for 10,000 meters in 2011 and the AR for 2 Miles indoors early in 2012, Galen won both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Olympic Trials, getting a kiss from his wife, Keara, for his efforts.
Two months later, he won an Olympic silver medal at 10,000 meters behind his training partner and great buddy Mo Farah. The occasion called for a “Mobot†duet.
Is the next step a marathon? Salazar says that you’ll just have to wait.
For Galen’s first marathon, you may indeed have to wait. But for all the latest on the meet? Not so much. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter to get daily updates on athlete announcements and other New Balance Indoor Grand Prix news. Plus you never know what else.
