Ryan Crouser’s Unbelievable Shot Put World Record

On May twenty seventh, twenty twenty three, Ryan Krauser took a weighted ball against his neck and pushed it farther than anyone had ever done before in the world when he broke the record for the longest shotput ever with the help from some dramatic rivals that helped push him beyond what he was able to do before, and left the world wondering could anyone ever break his record of twenty three point seven six meters, which is over seventy seven feet. If you're in America, join us today. As we dive into the history of the shot put and how Ryan Krauser took over the. Mantle as being the shot the king today. On Daily Sports History, Let's go sport. Welcome to Daily Sports History on Eathan Reese, your guide as you date learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge as we learned about the shotput in Ryan Krauser. Now, in the early twentieth century, shotput was a test of raw strength, dominated by towering figures. Among them was Ralph Rose, who stood out literally, standing over sixty five and weighing over two hundred and fifty pounds. Rose was a giant among men, unmatched in both size and skill, and in nineteen oh nine in San Francisco, Rose made history launching a sixteen pound shot over fifteen point five four meters or fifty one feet. Becoming the first man to ever break the fifty foot barrier. And this throw was so far ahead of. Its era it became the very first shot put record and it would remain unbroken for over sixteen years. And he would go on to win seven AAU national titles in shotput, disc and javelin and become a three time Olympic gold medalist, competing in the nineteen oh four, eight and twelve Olympics. And he really put shot putting on the map, but unfortunately, at the age of twenty eight, had untimely death, so we lost. Him too early. But his record stood for years, and it wasn't until about the nineteen fifties and sixties when shot put really started to come back into form as American throwers Bill Kneader, Perry O'Brien and Dallas Long really took the mantle, pushing to break the barrier of the twenty meter mark in America that's just over. Sixty five feet. Bill Kneader was your classic Kansas kid who actually broke sixty feet with a twelve pound shot and was the first collegiate athlete to do so with a sixteen pound shot. But despite frequent knee injuries, he never gave up it continued to push himself and in nineteen sixty he set the world record at nineteen point four five meters, and he would go on to extend it later that year to nineteen point ninety nine meters so close, and later that year he became the first man to surpass twenty meters, throwing twenty point zero six. But despite this, he was just an alternate for the US team, finishing fourth at the trials due to injury, but he was caught up when a teammate was sidelined as well due to injury, and in the final he went on to break the Olympic record, but would be surpassed by fellow teammate Perry O'Brien with a throw of eighteen point seven seven, and then he pushed it even further with a throw of nineteen point eleven, the first time anyone threw over nineteen meters in an Olympics. Then Dallas Long came up and threw over nineteen meters as well, and in the fifth round, Nader unleashed a throw of nineteen point six to eight, clinching the gold and setting a new Olympic record. This just goes to show you that competition really he pushes you beyond your limits. All these three men pushed each other more further than they had ever gone before. Nider would eventually retire but contribute to sports technology, helping develop the market for the first synthetic track surface for major competition that was included in the nineteen sixty eight Mexico City Olympics. Then in the nineteen eighties and nineties we saw more great shot putters come up, with the rise of Olive Timberman from East Germany, who was a technical master in his power redefined the event. He broke the world record in nineteen eighty five with a throw of twenty two point sixty two meters, and then in Greece in nineteen eighty eight, he'd be the first man to ever surpass twenty three meters with a throw of twenty three point zero six a market using his classic glide technique, a style different from most throwers, and at the nineteen eighty eight Soul Olympics he set Olympic record with twenty two point forty seven meters, winning the goal over American Randy Barnes, and the competition was fierce, with four men breaking the Olympic record during the competition, But one of those men was Randy Barnes, an American who would go on after this to push Timberman to the limits and. Would surpass his world record with a throw. In nineteen ninety of twenty three point two meters the market that would stand for over three decades. But unfortunately, this time, if you know anything about baseball, was marred by steroids. Timberman of East Germany was leaked to a state sponsored drug program so his records would be expunged as he took high doses of antabolic steroids in the early nineteen eighties. Although he denied using them, the tests did not lie. But this all led to twenty twenty one with a new generation of throwers really taking the mantle on trying to break Barnes's record, and that leads us to Brian Krauzier, who was born in Portland, Oregon, in nineteen ninety two to a family of throwers. You could say it was in his blood. His father was an alternate in the Olympics for the discus. And he had two uncles that were NCAA champions and Olympians in the shotput, disks and javelin, and his cousin was a two time n Cuba champion. That's a lot of throwers in one family. And he's starting in. Middle school and he quickly gained momentum throughout high school, setting national records for both indoor and outdoor shotput, and he would win gold in two thousand and nine World Youth Championships, and he would go on to throw at Texas, growing to a size of six seven and three hundred pounds. Using that size, he won four NCAA National Championships for the shotput, where he would overcome injuries and academic challenges, but go on to graduate with a degree in economics. And after college, he would join the Olympic team for twenty sixteen Real Games, where he would win gold, setting an Olympic record throwing for twenty two point five to two meters and he would continue his dominance, defending his crown in the Tokyo Olympics in twenty twenty one. Now, if you don't remember this time, the Olympics were originally supposed to be in twenty twenty. Then there's a little thing called a pandemic going on and pushed everything back. So on June eighteenth, twenty twenty one, at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, in his home state, Krausier unleashed a throw of twenty three point three seven meters, surpassing Randy Barton's legendary throw by almost an entire foot. And this was not just a statistical achievement, it was a shift in the sport, as no one had broken this record in three decades. Then one of the craziest moments happened at the Tokyo Olympics, where he defended his style, throwing for twenty three point three meters, setting an Olympic record, breaking the Olympic record three times during his final round. But he continued to improve and on May twenty seven, twenty twenty three, he extended his own world record, throwing twenty three point five six meters over seventy seven feet and three inches. And during this day, three of his throws would be in the top six ever thrown all time. And this happened because he was also an innovator just like back in the nineties with Timmerman using his glide technique, Krauser made a leap forward using his step cross technique, taking a lateral step across the ring, generating more power and balance, and this adjustment allowed him to maximize his strength and giant frame, and he credits this to being able to break this historic record, although his journey is not without adversity. In twenty twenty three, it was discovered that he had a blood clot before the World Championships in Budapest, and despite this challenge, actually would win gold at that event, setting the world Championship record at twenty three point five one meters, cementing his status as this greatest shot putter. Frankly, ever, he is still the only man to throw beyond twenty three and a half meters and holds the indoor and outdoor world record, has won three consecutive Golden Medals, and has continued to innovate. As we speak, sometimes history is recent enough that we are witnessing it, and this is one where we are witnessing greatness. And he's actually started the World shot Put Series, creating an event around the shotput, making it more in an event that's just a secondary track and field event at the Olympics, and putting it into people's minds. Maybe it'll catch. On and we can see shotput on ESP and OCHO one day, because it's always a fun thing to see how far someone can throw a ball that I can barely pick up. For fun, I want to thank you for listening to Today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're at. That really helps not only me, but helps you not miss another episode and come back tomorrow for more Daily Sports History.