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Ryan Crouser's World Record on Home Turf Was Years in The Making

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DyeStat.com   Jun 19th 2021, 7:36am
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Crouser Smashes 31-Year-Old World Record With Massive 76-8.25 (23.37m) Effort

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photo by Chuck Aragon

EUGENE – The confluence of time, place and circumstance intersected for Ryan Crouser on his fourth throw in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the shot put. 

The really big throw, the monster that has eluded him for the past four years, finally came on familiar ground, with family in the stands and with an Olympic berth on the line. 

Crouser's world-record moment, near the spot where he won his final high school championship 10 years ago, was waiting for the perfect setting. 

"It's one I've been after for a long time," Crouser said. "I felt 10 pounds lighter when I saw the (score) board."

Crouser comes from a family famous for throwing and by the age of 10 or 11 was practicing with a 6-pound shot behind his middle school and pretending to break the world record. 

At Sam Barlow High, Crouser was as naturally gifted and mechanically sound as any thrower in prep history. His best shot put mark traveled farther than anyone in history besides Michael Carter. He broke the national record in the discus. His cousins, Sam and Haley, both broke the national records in the javelin. 

At Texas, he filled out his 6-foot-7 frame and continued to drill and study and lift. 

In 2016, fresh out of college, he won the Olympic gold medal and broke the meet record in Rio. 

The next target: World record. 

Crouser has sprayed so many shots over the 22-meter line in the past four years that he had already become, without a doubt, the best shot-putter in history. He has 134 throws beyond 22 meters, far more than anyone else. 

But it takes a world record to cement that legacy, and he went chasing after it. 

"I've known it's possible for four-plus years now," Crouser said. "It's just about getting out of my own way and letting it happen."

It was bound to happen. His slightly missed throws were landing closer and closer to Randy Barnes' 1990 mark of 23.12m (75-10.25). 

When everything came together on his fourth throw Friday, the ball remained in his hand just a bit longer, flew in the arc where he wanted it to go. It hit the ground so far past the 72-foot chalked line that everyone who saw it at Hayward Field new instantly that it was a world-record distance. At 76-8.25 (23.37m), it was 10 inches past the world record. 

Crouser began celebrating the moment it left his hand. 

Mitch Crouser, Ryan's dad, could tell it was special. He was seated three rows up near the finish line and his arms shot up in the air. 

"He's been so close to many times the past three years," Mitch said. "He finally saw it come together."

With a well-trained eye, the father could see it unfold. 

"He was on it a long time," Mitch said. "Some of the earlier throws were more conservative. It's just so cool to finally do it. It's been a lot harder than he expected, constantly flirting with it."

The throw came in a competition that saw five men throw 71-8 or better – unprecedented depth from a single country. 

The other guys compete for PRs, sure, but also with one another. 

Crouser has spent four years on a Moby Dick-type of chase. Searching for the White Whale. A quest, really. 

Nine years after the last Hayward Field world record, Ashton Eaton's decathlon record at the 2012 Trials, another Oregonian has done it. 

Besides his parents and brother, Crouser hadn't seen the rest of his family since 2019. 

"This is where I had some of my first track meets, and it felt special to be here in front of friends and family," he said. 

RYAN CROUSER 2011 OSAA STATE FINALS

As Crouser made his way past family on his victory lap, he waved and shouted: "I'll see you after!"

During the 2020 pandemic, Crouser adapted to face the challenges of a new world hemmed in by COVID-19 restrictions. He built his own throwing circle. He threw into a Fayetteville, Ark. grade school playground. He made a workout gym in the garage. 

And although he is at the top of the pyramid right now, he wasn't the only one. 

The deepest shot put competition in history saw eight Olympic hopefuls throw beyond 67 feet. Six threw beyond the Olympic standard in the finals. 

World champion Joe Kovacs finished second with 73-3.50 (22.34m). 

Payton Otterdahl, just two years out of North Dakota State, outdueled Olympic veteran Darrell Hill and Josh Awotunde for the third spot. Otterdahl threw a personal best 71-11 (21.92m) and Hill threw 71-10 (21.89m) on their fifth attempts. Awotunde threw 71-8 (21.84m) on his final attempt. 

The first final on the first day of the one-year delayed Olympic Trials produced both a defining moment and a dramatic finish. 

The remaining nine days have a lot to live up to. 



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