Ryan Crouser wins the 2023 World Championships in shot put

Actually, the injury rumors before the competitions did not speak in favor of the dominance of the American world record holder Ryan Crouser in the final of the shot put at the 2023 World Championships in Athletics in Budapest. A few days before his departure for Europe, he felt pain in his leg. An ultrasound scan had found small blood clots. To be on the safe side, Crouser subsequently took blood thinners. As a result, there was speculation about the two-meter giant's fitness and chances for gold. So it was not particularly surprising that he fell well short of his best in qualifying with a distance of 21.48m and behind his rivals Joe Kovacs and Tom Walsh. With a distance and at the same time season's best of 22.37 m the Brazilian Darlan Romani led the qualification.

But what was valid in the morning session, should not be valid in the evening session, where the final was held. The leading Brazilian Darlan Romani of the qualification did not come close to his performance of the morning and ended up on rank 8 with a distance of 21.41 m. In contrast, Ryan Crouser already showed with his first throw and the achieved 22.63 m that he wanted to go beyond himself and win gold in any case. His biggest competitors, Joe Kovacs (USA) and Tom Walsh (NZL), did not even come close to the distance of the first shot with their best distances of 22.12 m and 22.05 m. But Ryan Crouser did not have enough and took another deep breath with his last shot and let everything out. The miracle shot came in at 23.51 m, which means a world championship record! Obviously the athmosphere in Budapest is unique, as the spectators could already see at numerous competitions. This euphoric atmosphere also inspired the Italian Leonardo Fabbri, who achieved his personal best with a distance of 22.34 m and surprisingly won silver.