WITH HIS UNPARALLELED consistency Ryan Crouser now totally rules the realm of collections of shot put marks at long distances, be the barriers imperial or metric.
First, let’s look at it from an imperial-measure point of view, with 74-feet (22.56m) being the holy grail, one achieved by only 10 different men ever. Counting all puts under all conditions (i.e., indoors and out, and all throws in a series) there have been 43 marks cracking the 74-foot barrier. Crouser is only a single put from owning half of them, since he can claim 21. That’s more than the next 6—Ulf Timmermann at 5, Alessandro Andrei at 4, Joe Kovacs & Tom Walsh at 3, Udo Beyer & Werner Günthör at 2—combined.
Crouser also notched 13 of those marks this year for the best single-season tally ever. Trailing him are Andrei ’87 (4) & Timmermann ’88 (3). Additionally, Crouser is the only one with a career pair of 75-footers, one this year and one in ’19.
Moving over to the metric-side barrier of 22.50 (which at 73-10 isn’t far from 74ft) we find history having provided 56 total performances by 13 men. With 27 (a record 17 of them this year), Crouser now has almost half of these too. Trailing are Timmermann at 7 and Andrei 4.
Imagine what Crouser might have done in a normal campaign. As he pointed out after his final pair of 74s in Belgrade, “This year has been really difficult for everyone, but it’s also ignited my passion for the sport. Just finding ways of training; I’ve been on sidewalks and in parks. Of course, it hasn’t been optimal training and I’m not as strong as previous years because I’ve been doing a lot of my training in a garage. What makes me pleased is that I set a goal of competing this summer and committed to it 100%.”
The big performances (! = secondary mark in a series; i = mark made indoors):
| Mark | Athlete | Site | Date |
| 23.06 | 75-8 | Ulf Timmermann (East Germany) | Haniá | 5/22/88 |
| 22.91 | 75-2 | Alessandro Andrei (Italy) | Viareggio | 8/12/87 |
| Joe Kovacs (US) | Doha | 10/05/19 | |
| Ryan Crouser (US) | Marietta | 7/18/20 | |
| 22.90 | 75-1¾ | Tom Walsh (New Zealand) | Doha | 10/05/19 |
| ——Crouser | Doha | 10/05/19 | |
| 22.86 | 75-0 | Brian Oldfield (US) | El Paso | 5/10/75 |
| 22.84 | 74-11¼ | ——Andrei ! | Viareggio | 8/12/87 |
| 22.75 | 74-7¾ | Werner Günthör (Switzerland) | Bern | 8/23/88 |
| 22.74 | 74-7¼ | ——Andrei ! | Viareggio | 8/12/87 |
| (10) | |||
| ——Crouser | Long Beach | 4/20/19 | |
| ——Crouser | Zagreb | 9/14/20 | |
| 22.73 | 74-7 | ——Crouser ! | Long Beach | 4/20/19 |
| ——Crouser ! | Marietta | 7/18/20 | |
| 22.72 | 74-6½ | ——Andrei ! | Viareggio | 8/12/87 |
| ——Crouser | Des Moines | 8/29/20 | |
| 22.71 | 74-6¼ | ——Crouser ! | Doha | 10/05/19 |
| 22.70 | 74-5¾ | ——Günthör ! | Bern | 8/23/88 |
| ——Crouser ! | Des Moines | 8/29/20 | |
| ——Crouser | Chorzów | 9/06/20 | |
| (20) | |||
| 22.68 | 74-5 | ——Crouser ! | Des Moines | 8/29/20 |
| 22.67 | 74-4½ | ——Walsh | Auckland | 3/25/18 |
| ——Crouser | Tucson | 5/18/19 | |
| 22.66 | 74-4¼i | Randy Barnes (US) | Los Angeles | 1/20/89 |
| 22.65 | 74-3¾ | ——Crouser | Sacramento | 6/25/17 |
| 22.64 | 74-3½ | Udo Beyer (East Germany) | East Berlin | 8/20/86 |
| 22.63 | 74-3 | ——Crouser ! | Des Moines | 8/29/20 |
| 22.62 | 74-2½ | ——Timmermann | East Berlin | 9/22/85 |
| ——Crouser | Des Moines | 7/26/19 | |
| 22.61 | 74-2¼ | ——Timmermann | Potsdam | 9/08/88 |
| (30) | |||
| Darlan Romani (Brazil) | Stanford | 6/30/19 | |
| 22.60 | 74-1¾ | ——Timmermann | Tallinn | 6/21/86 |
| ——Walsh | Zürich | 8/30/18 | |
| i | ——Crouser | Albuquerque | 2/15/20 |
| 22.59 | 74-1½ | ——Crouser ! | Chorzów | 9/06/20 |
| ——Crouser ! | Zagreb | 9/14/20 | |
| ——Crouser | Belgrade | 9/17/20 | |
| 22.58 | 74-1 | ——Beyer ! | East Berlin | 8/20/86 |
| 22.57 | 74-¾ | ——Kovacs | Tucson | 5/18/17 |
| ——Crouser ! | Belgrade | 9/17/20 | |
| (40) | |||
| 22.56 | 74-¼ | ——Timmermann | East Berlin | 9/13/88 |
| ——Kovacs | Fontvieille | 7/17/15 | |
| ——Crouser | Des Moines | 8/25/20 | |
| (end of 74-footers) | |||
| 22.55 | 73-11¾i | ——Timmermann | Senftenberg | 2/11/89 |
| ——Romani ! | Stanford | 6/30/19 | |
| ——Crouser ! | Belgrade | 9/17/20 | |
| 22.54 | 73-11½ | Christian Cantwell (US) | Gresham | 6/05/04 |
| 22.53 | 73-11 | ——Crouser | Eugene | 5/26/18 |
| ——Romani | Doha | 10/05/19 | |
| ——Crouser ! | Chorzów | 9/06/20 | |
| (50) | |||
| 22.52 | 73-10¾ | John Brenner (US) | Walnut | 4/26/87 |
| ——Crouser | Rio de Janeiro | 8/18/16 | |
| ——Crouser ! | Chorzów | 9/06/20 | |
| 22.51 | 73-10¼ | ——Timmermann | Erfurt | 6/01/86 |
| Adam Nelson (US) | Gresham | 5/18/02 | |
| 22.50 | 73-10 | ——Crouser ! | Des Moines | 8/25/20 |