The defending Olympic champion could barely clear the bar Friday night, but her American successor managed to take home silver in the pole vault.
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The top two were tied on a clearance of 4.85m, but European champion Stefanidi won by having fewer failed jumps.
Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi finished with the gold while Eliza McCartney of New Zealand took home bronze. The 34-year-old clearly wasn’t herself in the final, failing in three attempts to clear 4.7 meters (15 feet, 5 inches), which was well below her season best of 5.03 (16-6).
Besides her gold in London, Suhr also won silver at the 2008 Beijing Games and won gold at the 2016 World Indoor Championships in March. Her silver-medal-winning height was 4.85, the same as Stefanidi’s.
The 30-year-old Felix entered the games as one of six women with four Olympic gold medals in track and field.
Ellis-Watson, an 11-time All-American for Razorbacks who was a senior this year, ran the second leg on U.S.1,600-meter relay that had the fastest time in the preliminaries at 3:21.42.
It’s the first ever pole vault medal for a Greek woman.
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While it was a big night for former Arkansas female athletes, former Razorbacks Tyson Gay and Jarrion Lawson lost out on earning a bronze medal in the men’s 400 relay. It was a rough Olympics for Lawson, who last weekend appeared to win the long jump on his final leap, but was ruled that his hand touched the sand early, resulting in a fourth place finish.
