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Ryan Crouser knew that a big throw was coming. Competing at the Ivan Ivancic Memorial on the eve of the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial in Zagreb on Saturday (7), the shot put star twice improved the meeting record and set a season’s best of 22.93m to triumph at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold event.
The following day, at the city’s Sports Park Mladost, another seven meeting records were set, including a 2:13.13 1000m by Olympic silver medallist Marco Arop, a 3000m steeplechase performance of 8:06.33 by Leonard Bett and a 3:58.33 1500m by Sintayehu Vissa.
Five weeks on from claiming an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic men’s shot put title in Paris, Crouser threw 22.90m to match the mark he achieved to get that gold and then went even farther, improving by another three centimetres in the final round to secure success in front of the Zagreb Fountains in style.
In a contest of impressive depth, his US compatriot Payton Otterdahl was second with an outdoor PB of 22.46m, while Olympic bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell improved his Jamaican record to 22.31m to place third and Italy’s world silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri threw 22.24m for fourth. In only two other men’s shot put competitions in history has the fourth-place mark been farther.
Crouser had explained ahead of the competition that it still felt like early season to him, due to the series of injury struggles that delayed his opener. Pleased with his consistency since Paris – as he threw 22.12m in Silesia, 22.49m in Rome and 22.66m in Zurich – he knew he was in good form.
“It was a fantastic competition. I always love coming to Zagreb and I think that this one topped the list,” said Crouser. “Not just on performance, but the atmosphere and the energy tonight. You can see it with all the athletes – 22.24m didn’t even make the podium, that’s a crazy result. I am glad that everyone performed that well here.
“My first round throw of 22.36m usually is enough for the win, especially that late in the season. It helped having those guys to push me to farther distances. I am still on less than 10 competitions this year, so it still feels like I am finding my shape.”
SOURCE: WORLD ATHLETICS
