USA’s Ryan Crouser totally annihilated the men’s Shot put field on Day 7 of Track and Field at the ongoing Olympic Games in Rio, throwing a World Lead (WL) and Olympic Record of 22.52m to win GOLD, erasing the former mark of 22.47m set in 1988.
Meanwhile teammate Joe Kovacs claimed Silver in 21.78m. Incidentally, the Rio Games is the first Olympics outing for the pair, becoming the first time since Atlanta ’96 that the USA has won both GOLD and Silver in the event.
Congo’s Franck Elemba narrowly missed winning the Bronze medal which was taken by New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh 21.36m, finishing 4th with a National Record (NR) of 21.20s as homeboy Darlan Romani also set an NR of 21.02 to finish 5th.
23-year old Crouser had set a personal Best (PB) of 22.22m on his second attempt, and extended it to 22.26m on his third.
Reigning World Champion Kovacs had initially escaped a scare during the qualifiers, recording no throws on his first and second attempts, before securing qualification with his third and final attempt with a mark of 20.73m.
