2013 is a promising year for gluten-free Olympic gold medalist Jenn Suhr. She starts the year off slated as the world’s top-ranked female pole vaulter by Track and Field News.

This is Suhr’s second consecutive year as reigning champion, something she says silences critics from thinking of last year’s standing as a “fluke.”

The accomplishment didn’t come without challenges. In 2011, Suhr struggled with severe weakness, dehydration and leg cramps, which she later discovered were due to undiagnosed celiac disease. In 2012, Suhr tore her quadriceps muscles just 5 weeks before the Olympic Trials, but still managed to qualify for the Summer Games in London.

In a 2011 interview with Buffalo News after her diagnosis, Suhr reported she had regained her confidence and was feeling much better after going gluten-free. Now that she’s slated as the top female pole vaulter for the second year in a row, it seems to be holding true as we ring in 2013.

Get the rest of the scoop on Suhr’s big achievement from the Democrat and Chronicle.

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