by Deji Ogeyingbo
Ryan Crouser Extends His World Championship Reign in Tokyo
Ryan Crouser walked into the shot put circle in Tokyo on Saturday night and raised his right arm, urging the crowd to lift their voices. The gesture appeared confident, but it carried something deeper. That was the same arm that had limited him for about a year, weakened by nerve entrapment. It was the arm he wasn’t sure would hold up under pressure. Yet when it mattered most, Crouser summoned a throw that pushed him to another world title.
The American won his third consecutive world championship in the event, his throw of 22.34m standing as the only mark of the competition to clear 22m. The win added another layer to his unmatched record, placing him alongside John Godina and Werner Günthör as the only men to win three world titles in the shot put. For a man who already owns three Olympic gold medals, this victory is the culmination of a season spent questioning whether he could get back to the top.
“This is the one I am most proud of,” Crouser said afterward. “I had a lot of doubt heading in. It was my first time throwing hard since last September, so I didn’t know what was there.” His preparation had been disrupted by an injury that forced an MRI, contrast fluid injections, and months of reduced training. In practice, he said he hadn’t seen a throw go beyond 20 meters. Pain was a constant, though he learned to manage it. “It was kind of fake it until you make it,” he admitted.
The final itself carried the tension that has long defined men’s shot put. Crouser took control in the second round with 21.99m, then followed with 21.79. Both marks held up until the fifth round, when Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh pushed close, each landing at 21.94. With his lead threatened, Crouser returned to the circle, spun into his release, and launched the shot to 22.34. It was the decisive blow, the throw that secured his title and reminded rivals of his ability to answer when challenged.
Even then, the event had one final twist. Mexico’s Uziel Muñoz, sitting in fifth with 21.50, delivered a lifetime best on his last attempt. His 21.97 leapfrogged him into silver and secured Mexico’s first medal in any throwing event. Muñoz’s celebration was exuberant, his achievement historic, but Crouser remained untouchable at the top.
Fabbri, who had entered the competition with the year’s best throw at 22.82, settled for bronze on countback. Walsh, a former world champion, missed the podium but left with another performance above 21.90. The margins in Tokyo were narrow, but Crouser’s ability to cross 22 meters once again separated him from the field.
What made this championship remarkable was not the distance itself. The mark was his lowest season best since 2015 and only the fifth longest throw of the year globally, behind fellow Americans Joe Kovacs, Josh Awotunde, and Payton Otterdahl. What elevated it was the context: Crouser had competed only once all year, and his condition made every training session uncertain. The victory showed that even when stripped of rhythm and routine, he could still summon a performance worthy of gold.
For Crouser, 32, the win extended the United States’ record in the event, with American athletes now owning 13 of the 20 men’s shot put titles contested since 1983. It also underscored his ability to keep evolving. He no longer needed to chase records to prove his standing. He needed to prove to himself that he could still deliver under circumstances that left him vulnerable.
