POCATELLO, IDAHO, February 18 — In ’11, at that year’s Simplot Games high school meet, shot putter Ryan Crouser lofted his 12-pound (5.44kg) implement out to 77-2¾ (23.54), the still-standing national record.
Precocious though he was, the Gresham, Oregon, senior could have had no inkling that just a day short of 12 years later he would come to the same meet and blast a 16-pounder a centimeter past his own awe-inspiring absolute WR. But that’s what Crouser did, reaching 76-8½ (23.38) on his first throw. From a foul-averse static start! (Read more about his competition tactic of opening with less dynamic technique here.)
Although Crouser entered the meet with the World Indoor Record, 74-10½ (22.82), as “kinda the top-end goal” and announced as much at a breakfast the day before, the massive heave astounded even the man himself.
He explained, “I’ve said in the past there’s two types of World Records: the ‘finally’ World Record where you do it and you just think, ‘Finally!’ That was for me, the 23.37 [WR of 76-8¼ at the Olympic Trials of ’21] in Eugene. I had five meets, six meets in three years that I would’ve bet money I was gonna break the World Record and I ended up not breaking it. So as soon as that shot left my hand in Eugene the first thing that crossed my mind was, ‘Finally!’
“And then today. The other kind [of WR] is a surprise where the athlete that does it is the most surprised person in the whole stadium cuz they weren’t expecting it. That’s how today was.
“I was going in thinking I‘d consistently be over 22m [72-2¼] with the goal of throwing a season best over 22.58 [74-1] and if everything’s really good get the indoor World Record. I wasn’t expecting to throw a lifetime personal best.
“But I guess for me sometimes when I have high expectations, I tend to get a little bit tight. I was loose and relaxed and I connected on that ball with a feeling that I really haven’t had in, in the past.
“So it has me really excited for outdoors if I can continue to add onto what I did today.”
After his monster to open his series, Crouser switched to the new technique he debuted at the Millrose Games, the innovation that’s already earned a name, the Crouser Slide. But when reached by phone as…
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