Olympic champion Ryan Crouser continued his fruitful form this season after he broke another world record in the men’s shot put. The American who earlier this year took down the indoor record during the winter season, returned to break a long-standing outdoor world record in the shot put at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene on Friday (18). For the full results please visit here
Crouser Finally Breaks A Record He’s Been Chasing For Years
After smashing the meeting record during the qualifying round earlier in the day, the Rio 2016 Olympic champion came back a little more than six hours later in the final with a towering round four effort of 23.37m to add 25 centimeters to the world record set by Randy Barnes back in 1990.
So confident Crouser was in his fourth round throw on Friday evening, he was celebrating the world record even before the shot had made it to the ground.
“It was a really special moment for,” Crouser. I feel like a weight was lifted to finally get the world record.”
The world silver medallist had given a hint that he was in record-breaking form when he threw 22.92m in the opening round of the qualifiers, which was the fifth best throw in history and the second-best mark of his career.
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After opening the contest with 22.61m to take an early lead, Crouser followed that throw up with 22.55m and 22.73m to complete the first three rounds.
By the half-way stage of the competition, two-time world champion Joe Kovacs was the only other man to have thrown beyond 22 metres (22.06m).
Fired up from his record-breaking throw, Crouser sent his fifth effort out to near the 23-metre line but it was a foul. He ended his series with 22.62m, his seventh throw of the day beyond 22 metres.
Kovacs improved to 22.34m in the final round to take second place, more than a metre behind Crouser, while Payton Otterdahl completed the team with a third place finish after throwing 21.92m in the fifth round.
