WITH A DOMINANT title defense, Ryan Crouser cemented his burgeoning claim as the GOAT in the shot with two World Champs records culminating in his massive effort of 77-1¾ (23.51) with the very last attempt of the night.
Broadcast on two giant screens at either end of the Hungarian capital’s brand-new National Athletics Center — and conveniently coming in a brief hiatus in the track action barely more than 5 minutes after the last runner in the women’s 10,000 had crossed the line — Crouser’s final attempt drew arguably the biggest roar of the night with the crowd hoping that a WR number was going to light up on the scoreboard.
It was not to be, but his sixth-stanza performance was still the second best of all-time, only shaded by his 77-3¾ (23.56) WR at the LA Grand Prix in May.
From the first round it was obvious the real battle was going to be for 2nd place behind the WR holder, defending world champion and two-time OG gold medalist.
Crouser, going into the circle first, opened with 74-3 (22.63), more than a meter better than anyone else by the end of the first round. The leader of the rest just so happened to be ’15 and ’19 WC winner Joe Kovacs who reached 70-8½ (21.55).
The second round ended almost any hopes of anyone challenging Crouser as he sent his shot out to 75-4¾ (22.98) to add 4cm to his MR set last year in Eugene.
Behind Crouser — who showed no sign of the impact on his preparation from the two blood clots in his leg which had threatened his participation a week ago — New Zealand’s Tom Walsh moved up to 2nd with 71-2 (21.69).
Crouser had a more modest 73-1¼ (22.28) in the third round which saw Leonardo Fabbri unleash a 73-3½ (22.34) PR to hoist himself into the silver medal position, which he maintained until the end to become the first Italian to medal in the event since Alessandro Andrei also took silver 36 years ago in Rome.
Behind the leading pair, Walsh also improved to 71-11½ (21.93) in the third round.
Crouser accrued fouls in rounds 4 and 5 — as did Fabbri — but following a 71-9½ (21.88) fourth-round effort Kovacs finally went over 22m with his penultimate effort of 72-7 (22.12) to overtake Walsh and secure his fifth consecutive place on a WC podium.
“That was a tough one,” Crouser said. “The last throw was testament to all the hard work and dedication over the last year. The last few days have been hard, so with all that has happened it was a phenomenal throw.”
Cause for concern had arisen earlier this month when Crouser experienced pain in his legs. But the blood clots went undiagnosed and then another week was spent debating with his team and medical support about whether he was fit to travel to Europe.
Payton Otterdahl had his best result at a major international championship and got respectably close to the medals, finishing 5th with 71-9½ (21.88) in the penultimate round.
The biggest casualty of the morning’s qualifiers in which 68-½ (20.74) sufficed to progress was the fourth U.S. putter, Josh Awotunde, who was rated No. 7 on the T&FN formchart. The ’22 WC bronze medalist was more than 7ft down on his season’s best and only able to reach 65-6½ (19.98) with his one valid throw.
Crouser will not soon forget this, his second outdoor world title. ”It’s been the most stressful 20 days I’ve ever had,” he said. “The week before I was supposed to leave I woke up with calf pain and we thought I had a partial tear in my calf. We treated it like that but after 10 days of no improvement we had a doctor look at it and he said, You have two blood clots. My training camp was scrapped so I had to find a way to get here. Luckily I had a great medical team working with me and they got me safe to fly. So it felt like a relief just to get here, even though I didn’t have proper training or preparation.
“After all that it was the best performance of my life, given the health issues, the stress and all of it. It wasn’t quite a World Record but to me it was.”
MEN’S SHOT RESULTS
FINAL (August 19)
1. Ryan Crouser (US) 77-1¾ (23.51) (x, 2 W, A) (MR)
(74-3, 75-4¾ [MR], 73-1¼, f, f, 77-1¾) (22.63, 22.98, 22.28, f, f, 23.51);
2. Leonardo Fabbri (Ita) 73-3½ (22.34) PR
(f, 69-9, 73-3½, f, f, 69-7½) (f, 21.26, 22.34, f, f, 21.22);
3. Joe Kovacs (US) 72-7 (22.12)
(70-8½, f, 69-8, 71-9½, 72-7, 69-1½) (21.55, f, 21.23, 21.88, 22.12, 21.07);
4. Tom Walsh (NZ) 72-4¼ (22.05)
(f, 71-2, 71-11½, 70-2½, 72-4¼, 70-7) (f, 21.69, 21.93, 21.40, 22.05, 21.51);
5. Payton Otterdahl (US) 71-8¾ (21.86)
(65-10½, 67-2, 68-11¼, 71-5½, 71-8¾, 71-3½) (20.08, 20.47, 21.01, 21.78, 21.86, 21.73);
6. Jacko Gill (NZ) 71-4¾ (21.76)
(66-8½, 70-5, 71-4¾, 69-11¾, 68-11¾, 69-9¾) (20.33, 21.46, 21.76, 21.33, 21.02, 21.28);
7. Filip Mihaljević (Cro) 70-9¼ (21.57)
(66-8, 66-8, 68-6, 70-9¼, f, 70-4¼) (20.32, 20.32, 20.88, 21.57, f, 21.44);
8. Darlan Romani (Bra) 70-3 (21.41)
(69-11, 69-2¾, f, f, 70-3, f) (21.31, 21.10, f, f, 21.41, f);
9. Armin Sinančević (Ser) 68-2¼ (20.78)
(68-2¼, 66-2½, f) (20.78, 20.18, f);
10. Mostafa Amer Hassan (Egy) 66-2¼ (20.17)
(f, 66-1, 66-2¼) (f, 20.14, 20.17);
11. Zane Weir (Ita) 65-7 (19.99)
(f, 65-7, f) (f, 19.99, f);
… 3f—Rajindra Campbell (Jam).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 7–8—first meet with 8 over 70)
| * = progression of the leading throw; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| first 3 rounds | |||
| Crouser | 22.63* | 22.98* | 22.28 |
| Sinančević | 20.78¶ | 20.18 | f |
| Campbell | f | f | f |
| Otterdahl | 20.08 | 20.47 | 21.01 |
| Weir | f | 19.99¶ | f |
| Gill | 20.33 | 21.46 | 21.76¶ |
| Kovacs | 21.55 | f | 21.23 |
| Romani | 21.31 | 21.10 | f |
| Hassan | f | 20.14 | 20.17¶ |
| Walsh | f | 21.69 | 21.93 |
| Fabbri | f | 21.26 | 22.34¶ |
| Mihaljević | 20.32 | 20.32 | 20.88 |
| rounds 4 & 5 | |||
| Mihaljević | 21.57¶ | f | |
| Otterdahl | 21.78 | 21.86¶ | |
| Romani | f | 21.41¶ | |
| Kovacs | 21.88 | 22.12¶ | |
| Gill | 21.33 | 21.02 | |
| Walsh | 21.40 | 22.05¶ | |
| Fabbri | f | f | |
| Crouser | f | f | |
| last round | |||
| Romani | f | ||
| Mihaljević | 21.44 | ||
| Gill | 21.28 | ||
| Otterdahl | 21.73 | ||
| Walsh | 21.51 | ||
| Kovacs | 21.07 | ||
| Fabbri | 21.22 | ||
| Crouser | 23.51*¶ | ||
QUALIFYING (August 19)
(auto-qualifier 70-2½/21.40)
Qualifiers: Romani 73-4¾ (22.37), Weir 71-7¼ (21.82), Walsh 71-3½ (21.73), Kovacs 70-10 (21.59), Otterdahl 70-8 (21.54), Gill (70-6¼ (21.49), Crouser 70-5¾ (21.48), Mihaljević 69-2¾ (21.10), Sinančević 68-7¾ (20.92), Campbell 68-4¼ (20.83), Hassan 68-3¼ (20.81), Fabbri 68-½ (20.74);
Non-Qualifiers: Chuk Enekwechi (Ngr) & Hamza Mohamed (Egy) 67-10¼ (20.68), Uziel Muñoz (Mex) 67-8 (20.62), Tomáš Staněk (CzR) 66-11½ (20.41), Wellington Morais (Bra) 66-7¼ (20.30), Scott Lincoln (GB) 66-4¼ (20.22), Asmir Kolašinac (Ser) 65-7¾ (20.01), Josh Awotunde (US) 65-6¾ (19.98), Marcus Thomsen (Nor) 65-6¼ (19.97), Mesud Pezer (Bos) 65-2 (19.86), Eric Favors (Ire) 64-5¾ (19.65), Burger Lambrechts (SA) 64-½ (19.52), Michał Haratyk (Pol) & Nazareno Sasia (Arg) 64-¼ (19.51), Francisco Belo (Por) 63-1½ (19.24), Konrad Bukowiecki (Pol) 63-¼ (19.21), Roman Kokoshko (Ukr) & Tsanko Arnaudov (Por) 62-10¾ (19.17), Odisséas Mouzenídis (Gre) 62-7¼ (19.08), Fred Moudani-Likibi (Fra) 61-11½ (18.88), Mark Bujnowski (Can) 61-9¾ (18.84), Kyle Blignaut (SA) 61-9 (18.82), Balázs Tóth (Hun) 57-0 (17.37);… 3f—Bob Bertemes (Lux), Andrei Toader (Rom).
(best-ever mark-for-place: 7)