Defending Olympic pole vault champion and Fredonia native Jenn Suhr will have a chance to defend her gold medal after qualifying Tuesday despite being ill in Rio de Janeiro.
Suhr cleared her first attempt at 4.60 meters to secure her spot in Friday’s finals.
She passed to 4.55 meters, clearing it easily on her second attempt, after coming down with an illness.
“Could have come from anywhere,” her coach and husband Rick Suhr said in a text Monday morning. “You are exposed to so many things here. She is pretty sick right now. We just don’t know what it is.”
