Crouser Pushed Through Pain Into Unknown For Third WC Gold

Ever methodical Ryan Crouser traveled through a year of injury and uncertainty to claim his latest World title. (KIRBY LEE/IMAGE OF SPORT)

EVEN WHEN RYAN CROUSER is subpar, heâ€s still the favorite to win. After all, Crouserâ€s par is so much better than everyone elseâ€s.

But make no mistake: this was not Crouser at his historic best. After winning his third World title in Tokyo — his first legitimate competition in more than a year — he talked with reporters backstage about his long, patient battle to rehabilitate injuries and keep his position atop the shot putting world.

“Every World Champs or Olympics is different, but this one was definitely the most challenging from a momentum side and from a physical side,†Crouser said. “This is the first time Iâ€ve really thrown hard since last September, and so the elbow has really lingered. I did, I donâ€t want to say permanent damage, but some long-lasting damage in preparation for the Paris Olympics.

“With it being the Olympics, we threw it, but then paid the price for it into October, November, December, January, and I didnâ€t really start to see progress until May, so it was just a bit of a nightmare in terms of getting the elbow healthy.â€

The injury was serious, but once improvements started happening, he finally believed that he could make Tokyo happen. “There wasnâ€t really any point where I thought, ‘Iâ€m not going to go,†but it was like, ‘If Iâ€m going, I want to at least be able to perform.†I donâ€t want to go out there and throw 18m [59-¾].â€

He had an MRI in May in which his elbow was injected with contrast dye, and the imaging showed the dye had leaked down into his forearm.

“I had a fully compromised elbow capsule, so no synovial fluid, no lubrication in that joint. I had thrown like that for a long time and did some damage to the joint. A PRP [platelet-rich plasma] injection has helped, but itâ€s just been a slow process.

“Phase 1 was getting the elbow to close and having a joint that actually functions instead of just a dry, creaky elbow, so itâ€s been a long process for sure. At least weâ€re trending in the right direction and did hopefully minimal long-term damage to the elbow during the last year. Finally, in May and June we started to see progress, but it was one baby step forward and make sure we didnâ€t take two steps back.â€

Training-wise, that meant backing off and “trying to maximize efficiency instead of just hitting the shot hard†— something thatâ€s hard for elite athletes to do. He said in normal conditions he does four sessions a week and anywhere from 10 to 30 throws. Now, he limits himself to 6.

“The biggest thing is the intensity that theyâ€re done at. Usually, I throw hard once a week, [but] I havenâ€t thrown hard at all, and itâ€s been like throw, take two days off, throw again, take two days off, and do my best to at least make it count.

“So a lot of drill work, time between throws, focusing on the mental side, kind of what I can control. A lot of drills, a lot of meet-type of preparation, because I canâ€t get in the ring and just throw and throw and throw until I get it right. Iâ€ve got six throws. Iâ€ve got to get it right as many times as I can on all six.â€

He arrived in Tokyo ready to compete, but with zero competitions under his belt — he qualified for the team due to his defending champion Wild Card — he couldnâ€t be certain of just how ready.

Adding to the challenge was the schedule — the qualification round and final were on the same day, just 10 hours apart. He passed the first test in the morning by hitting 70-1½ (21.37), 2cm past the auto-qualifier mark. But the final got off to a slow start, at least by his standards.

“It was a little concerning in round 1, because I really thought that was a good throw. Seeing it land at 21.41 [70-3], it was like, ‘Oh, thatâ€s not.†I was hoping that was going to be like 22.40 [73-6]. So I kind of had to take a step back and just try and build.â€

And he was still hurting.

“It was a little bit worse than I had hoped, because I havenâ€t been pain-free and I havenâ€t really expected to be pain-free, but Iâ€ve been feeling better, but that first throw, like, ‘OK, yeah, it still hurts to throw hard.â€

“It was one of those comps where I felt like I was learning a lot each round. I would say that you can make mistakes in the comp, just donâ€t make the same mistake twice. And I felt like you could kind of see that as I went through the rounds, and so it was not a technical masterpiece by any means.

“Itâ€s difficult when youâ€re making technical mistakes, not trying to be perfect and really execute well, and you lose that, I call it a ‘smash factor.†At the end of the day, like, you still have to hit the ball hard.â€

Crouser hopes that going forward, World Athletics will go a little easier on the aged.

“Iâ€m really, really proud of how I executed, given the preparation for this, and yeah, at 32, qualifying and final the same day is a little bit of a challenge, for sure. Weâ€re probably pushing 20,000-plus steps today, so hopefully they quit doing that for the next World Champs and especially for the â€28 Olympics.â€

Now, with no major titles to pursue in â€26, Crouser can fully recover and attend to other priorities in life.

“My wife is a doctor, and so weâ€re moving to Nashville for her residency program, and Iâ€ll be kind of the second career for a little bit. But itâ€ll be actually, I think, a really good move. Iâ€m continuing to work with Rojé Stona [formerly competing for Jamaica, now Türkiye] and adding Peyton Otterdahl to the training group. Iâ€m excited to expand the training group — Nashville is a great city — and continuing to build the World Shot Series,†the shot-put-with-a-twist project he began at the Drake Relays this spring.

“Thatâ€s kind of a big step, especially with no major championship this next year. We donâ€t have the Ultimate Athletic Championship as a shot putter, which is disappointing. Yeah, so World Shot Put Series, it is. Hopefully weâ€ll replace that with the World Shot Series Ultimate Championship.â€

Since 1986, Lee Nichols has been the Rockdale (Texas) High School record holder in the mile and 2-miles. He followed those feats with a brief and highly undistinguished tenure with the Texas Longhorns. He has been writing for Track & Field News since 2004. When he’s not writing about track, he’s either writing about or drinking craft beer and watching Tottenham Hotspur play soccer.

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