Reigning Olympic Shot Put Champion Ryan Crouser Wins Third-Straight World Title

Ryan Crouser of the United States during the men’s shot put final on the first day of the 2025 World Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Andrzej Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

NurPhoto via Getty Images

He’s a legend for a reason.

On the first day of action at the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Tokyo on Saturday, U.S. star Ryan Crouser achieved a remarkable feat when he won his third straight world title in the men’s shot put without a single other competition to his name in 2025.

The American legend and world record-holder, who qualified for worlds by virtue of his bye into the competition from his 2023 title in Budapest, shut the door on his fifth throw, hanging a mark of 22.34 meters (73 feet, 3.5 inches) on the field which they could not answer.

Crouser, also the reigning three-time Olympic champion in the event, ended his competition on just six throws in total, including one in the qualifying round.

Behind Ryan Crouser’s Big Win At The 2025 World Championships

Interestingly enough, the winning mark was Crouser’s lowest season-best since 2015 and the fifth best throw globally of 2025 – behind Americans Joe Kovacs, Josh Awotunde and Payton Otterdahl.

What made the performance legendary, however, was how the 32-year-old even made it to the circle in the first place.

According to the Associated Press, Crouser was nursing a pretty serious elbow injury called nerve entrapment which required an MRI to evaluate his right arm. Contrast fluid was injected into the joint before it later leaked out, signaling a serious condition. The injury erased much of his training over the year, he said.

“I really haven’t thrown hard,” Crouser told the AP. “Haven’t seen a ball go more than 20 meters in practice. So I just didn’t know what was going to be in the tank tonight.”

The Oregon native, however, wouldn’t be the world’s best shot put thrower without some pain tolerance. He said he rated the pain “3 or 4 out of 10” and battled through the qualifying round before reaching the final, which saw him score marks of 21.99 and 21.79 meters on his second and third throws.

No other athlete in the field was able to match a throw over 22 meters, though Mexico’s Uziel Muñoz jumped to the podium on his last attempt, hitting 21.97 meters.

How Ryan Crouser Set Up For His World Championship Appearance

While Crouser scored his first throws of the year on Saturday – in the same National Stadium venue where he won the 2021 Olympic title – it technically wasn’t the first time he appeared in a shot put circle.

In April at the Drake Relays, he was among a field he assembled for the newly-created World Shot Put Series in Des Moines, Iowa. Crouser stepped in the ring late in the proceedings, but was unable to register a single throw. The Olympic and world champion founded the competition, in part, to create better representation for field athletes in the United States.

But while an injury kept Crouser off the scoresheet for the majority of 2025, there was no doubt he was going to be a force to deal with on Saturday.

Historically, he’s leveled up in major championships and invitationals, thanks in part to incredible consistency.

Last August, he netted his third Olympic win in Paris with a mark of 22.90 – a thorough display which saw him need just three throws in the finals.

The previous season in Budapest, he netted his best throw in a major championship, securing a winning throw of 23.51 meters on his first attempt. Earlier that year, he set the world record with a mark of 23.56 meters in Los Angeles – besting his own former world record by 13 centimeters.

Crouser currently has eight of the top 10 marks in American history in the shot put.

“I just had to kind of trust when I got in the ring I could hit the shot like I used to,” he said.