by Stuart Weir
Stuart Weir loves the shot put. He told me that he had to write a piece on the shot put, and he did it with style!
US the big shots
The 2019 men’s shot put competition was supposed to be the most exciting ever, with Joe Kovacs winning with 22.91 from Ryan Crouser and Tom Walsh, both 1cm behind.
Well, the Oregon 2022 competition just about surpassed 2019 for quality, intrigue, and excitement.
Ryan Crouser entered the event as World Champion, Olympic Champion, and World Record holder. He was the man to beat. Incidentally, Ryan once told me that it was convenient when you are the world record holder as you just need to throw a PR to break the world record!
Crouser’s dominance was called into question at the 2022 World Indoors in Belgrade when Darlan Romani won with 22.53 to Crouser’s 22.44.
World Athletics Championships
Eugene, Oregon, USA
July15-26, 2022
shot put final, photo by Kevin Morris
In Oregon 2022, Crouser opened with a championship record of 22.21m. Kovacs went 22.63m. Crouser’s lead had not ever lasted until the end of round 1. Crouser responded with 22.71 with his second throw. In round 5, Kovacs was again in the lead with 22.89m, but in the same round, it was Crouser again with 22.94m.
To the delight of the crowd, it ended with a USA 1-2-3.
1 Ryan Crouser 22.94m
2 Joe Kovacs 22.89m
3 Josh Awotunde 22.29m
Ryan Crouser commented: “It is a dream to be World Champion. I think any young athlete dreams about becoming a world champion or Olympic champion. When I first threw as a schoolboy in this arena, I never thought that 17 years later, I would be here again. It was a fantastic night. The atmosphere was amazing. The best thing for me was to have the US 1-2-3. We have talked about it for some time, but it proved elusive. I expect Joe to be on the podium, but all credit to Josh. The atmosphere helped him to a PR and a medal”.
Statistical Summary by World Athletics
- Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovacs re-created their titanic struggle at the Doha 2019 Worlds, with Crouser winning this time with his 5th round throw of 22.94m after Kovacs had taken the lead in round 5 with 22.89.m
- Crouser’s winning mark, 22.94m, was a championship record, bettering the mark of 22.91m set by Kovacs in 2019.
- Josh Owotunde (USA) won the bronze medal to complete a United States’ medal sweep.
- This is the 1st medal sweep in the men’s shot put at the World Championships. Previously the USA had won gold/silver in 2001, 2007, and 2019.
- This is the 2nd medal sweep for the USA at Oregon22, after last night’s men’s 100 meters. This is only the 5th time a nation has had 2 medal sweeps at a single edition of the World Championships – after the USA in 1983 (men’s 100 and long jump); the USA in 1992 (men’s 100 and long jump); Ethiopia in 2005 (women’s 5,000 and 10,000); and Kenya in 2011 (women’s 10,000 and marathon).
