From Roberts Wesleyan to Paris: Pole vaulter Brynn King’s Olympic dream comes true

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Roberts Wesleyan pole vaulter Brynn King is headed to Paris after qualifying for Team USA at the Olympic trials over the weekend.

King shocked the track and field world by jumping her personal best to earn a spot on the Olympic team. She’s coached at Roberts Wesleyan by former gold medalist Jenn Suhr.

“I’m still kinda in shock, it still doesn’t really feel real,” King told News10NBC’s Jennifer Lewke. “Yesterday, we kinda had a chat, my coaches and I before and our game plan was to go in there and swing for the fences basically, we weren’t going to play it safe. I knew playing it safe wasn’t going to get me on that team. In the end, it was top three or bust.”

So, she went for her personal best.

“Making it to the trials was my goal at the beginning of the year, but then as the year went on and as I was jumping in this meet I was like no, I think it is possible to be able to make this team,” King said. “What I’ve learned about myself is that I can step up in a time that I really needed to, that was a very stressful jump, I felt like I had one shot to kinda make my dreams come true and if I didn’t execute on that jump I’d have to wait another four years, who knows what the circumstances were.”

With her gold medal-winning coach cheering her on, King cleared the pole. She was wearing her Roberts Wesleyan uniform when she made Team USA.

“When I was doing my victory lap around the track after I had qualified, there was a lot of people coming up to me, like, oh, we’re from Rochester, so excited to see that you’re repping Roberts and stuff, so it brought me closer to a lot of other fans that I hadn’t known, so I really enjoyed repping the Roberts uniform out there,” King said.

She’s heading back to Rochester to prepare for Paris and then, it’ll be a much different uniform she puts on as she represents our country.

“I got all my gear and stuff, I put on the uniform for the first time and I couldn’t believe that it was mine so, once I get home though we’re going to switch the focus, it was my dream to make it but now I want to continue over the next few weeks, continue to get better and see what I can do while I’m there. At this point I feel like anything can happen,” King said.

Since King transferred from Duke to Roberts to work with Suhr, she’s jumping 19 inches higher.

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