by Larry EderTwo London 2012 Olympic medalists, Jenn Suhr, and Galen Rupp were announced today to be competing in the 2013 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, which will be held at the famed Reggie Lewis Center, in Roxbury, MA, on February 2, 2013.
Jenn Suhr, Galen Rupp Returning to Boston on Feb. 2
BOSTON (Jan. 7) – Olympic Pole Vault Champion Jenn Suhr and 10,000-meter Olympic Silver Medalist Galen Rupp lead the latest list of stars coming to the 2013 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb. 2, organizers announced today. Suhr and Rupp, two of America’s brightest track and field stars at last year’s London Olympic Games, have so far combined to set a total of 11 American Records in their careers, and are both familiar faces at this event. They join previously announced Aries Merritt as the event’s 2013 headliners.
Tickets for the 18th-annual Olympic-style event are on sale now at www.nbindoorgrandprix.com or by calling 1-877-849-8722.
Jenn Suhr, who was the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, returned from London with her much sought-after Olympic gold, earned in cold, wet and windy conditions after outlasting the deepest field ever assembled in the event. Suhr, from Rochester, NY, is no stranger to Boston, where she won her first national title in the Reggie Lewis Center in 2005 as an unknown. Now ranked #1 in the world for the second-consecutive year, she has won a staggering 12 US pole vault titles in the past eight years and has broken the indoor and outdoor American Record seven times – most recently on a jump of 4.88m/16 feet at last year’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. “My first big performance of 2012 was in Boston and the year turned out to be my best ever,” said Suhr. “So I can’t wait to come back to Boston and start off this World Championships year with one of my favorite crowds.”
Galen Rupp, from Portland, OR, scored his first Olympic medal, a silver, at 10,000 meters in London, becoming the first American male to bring home an Olympic medal of any color at that distance since Billy Mills won gold in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Earlier in 2012, Rupp set the American Record in the indoor 2-mile and won both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters at the US Olympic Trials. “To me, indoor track is to New England what Hayward Field is to track and field in Oregon. I can’t wait to line up at the Reggie on February 2nd,” said Rupp.
Rupp will not compete unchallenged in the 3,000 meters. Organizers also announced that the 2012 Olympic silver medalist at 5,000 meters, Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel, has been added to the field. While Gebremeskel also had the world-leading time at 5000 meters in 2012 in 12:46.81, he may be best known for defeating eventual double Olympic Champion Mo Farah at the 2011 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix wearing just one shoe, after being stepped on early in the race.
The field will also include Hagos Gebrhiwet
, the World Junior Record-holder at 5000m and the world’s second-fastest man at the distance in 2012.
More than 100 Olympic and World Championship medalists have come to Boston to compete in this event, which has also played host to six World Records, 10 American Records and 19 other national records.
The 18th-annual meet, which begins at 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 2 at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College. Tickets and meet information can be found on-line atwww.nbindoorgrandprix.com or by calling 1-877-849-8722.
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