World Record Holder Adds 19 Centimeters To His Personal Best: 23.56m (77-3.75)

By David Woods for DyeStat

Meet officials at the Los Angeles Grand Prix must have thought the shot put landing area was a safe space. After all, a wall at 79 feet would surely contain a 16-pound ball, right?

Wrong, almost.

Ryan Crouser improved his own world record with the greatest series in the history of the shot put Saturday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. His fourth-round distance of 77 feet, 3.75 inches (23.56m) added 19 centimeters to his own world record of 76-8.25 (23.37m), set in the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials at Eugene, Ore.

“The training, I think, kind of showed itself,” Crouser said in an NBC-TV interview. “The best thing is I’m still on high volume, heavy throws in the ring and heavy weights in the weight room. We’ve just started working some speed.

“So I’m excited to see, with some plyos and some proper training, what I can get out there.”

The 6-foot-7 Crouser, 30, a Texas graduate from Portland, Ore., is a volunteer assistant coach at Arkansas. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion.

He now owns the four longest throws in history. He threw 76-8.5 (23.38m) at a February indoor meet at Pocatello, Idaho, but it was not accepted as a world record.

Crouser’s shortest throw at L.A. – 74-9.75 (22.80m) – would have won the gold medal at every Olympics except 2021 at Tokyo, where he was the only shot putter exceeding it.

The series: 76-2.75 (23.23m); 76-5.75 (23.31m); 75-3.25 (22.94m); 77-3.75 (23.56m); 74-9.75 (22.80m); 75-0 (22.86m).

Crouser said he is still perfecting a technique others are calling the Crouser Slide.

 “The earlier meets were kind of a train wreck," he said. "Today it kind of clicked.”

New Zealand’s Tom Walsh was second with a season-best 72-7 (22.12m). He earned bronze medals at each of the past two Olympics, in addition to a 2017 World championship and World indoor golds in 2016 and 2018.

Payton Otterdahl was third, 72-1.25 (21.99m); Mexico’s Uziel Munoz fourth, 71-9.50 (21.88m), a national record, and Nigeria’s Chuk Enekwechi fifth, 71-2 (21.69m).

Adrian Piperi, also a Texas graduate, was sixth at 70-6.25 (21.49m).

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.