Ryan Crouser credited Joe Kovacs’ big first throw with spurring him to excel in this competition. Photo by Kevin Neri
Ryan Crouser returned to Hayward Field Friday night for the USATF Championships to continue his reign as the most remarkable shot putter in the event’s history. While Crouser ended the night with the gold, it was not a clear-cut path to the podium as Joe Kovacs tested the reigning Olympic champion.
Opening up the competition, Kovacs uncorked a season-best throw of 75 feet, ½ inch to firmly position himself in the lead. With a throw of 73 feet on his first attempt and a scratch on his second, Crouser looked to the crowd for motivation, the slow build of claps beginning to echo from the stadium. Spinning across the ring, Crouser heaved the shot to a world lead of 75 feet, 10 inches.
“Joe opened really big — opening big like that is a really hard thing to do,” said the two-time Olympic gold medalist Crouser. “Without Joe setting that high standard early, I probably would not have thrown as far as I did.”
Far does not capture what Crouser accomplished on a warm evening in Eugene. Only 10 throwers in the history of the event have thrown a shot put over 75 feet, 4 inches. Crouser now holds seven out of those 10 spots.
Crouser continued to write his name in the record books as he became the first shot putter to have three throws in one competition that broke the 75 feet, 4-inch mark. Crouser, the world record holder in the event, continues his dominance as the winner of 30 outdoor meets in a row.
The last time he didn’t come in first place was at the 2019 world championships, which Kovacs won on the last throw of the competition by one centimeter.
Even with the world record and a couple of Olympic gold medals, Crouser is hopeful he can continue to push that record further and further. “I’m so excited going forward,” Crouser said. “To constantly miss things while throwing over 75 feet, I’ve never done that before and it’s a really good sign of where I’ll be in three to four weeks.”
Crouser returns to Hayward Field for the World Athletics Championships. He is chasing the only title that he doesn’t have in his catalog of achievements, a gold medal at the world championships.
“It’s been a joke between the guys that I can’t win a world title,” Crouser said. “ The fun thing at this point is that a personal best for me means a new world record.”
