Ryan Crouser Parents: Meet Mitch Crouser and Lisa Crouser

Ryan Crouser is an American shot putter and discus thrower. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Olympic record holder. Crouser is the current world record holder in the shot put, both indoor and outdoor.

On May 27, 2023, Crouser reset his outdoor world record with a throw of 23.56m (77 ft 3+3⁄4 in) bettering his previous world record by 7.48 inches/19 cm.

In 2021, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, he threw 23.37 m (76 ft 8+1⁄4 in) to break Randy Barnes’s 31-year-old record of 23.12 m by almost 10 inches (25 cm).

As of July 2023, Crouser is the only man ever to throw further than 23.50 meters. 17 of the 21 throws over 23 meters have been done by Crouser. He has thrown 75′ or further 26 times, and 22m or further over 215 times.

photo credit: millrosegames.org

Crouser is the reigning consecutive two-time Olympic champion. He won the gold medal in the shot put at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, setting the Olympic Games record of 22.52 m (73 ft 10+1⁄2 in).

He defended that Olympic title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, improving the Olympic record to 23.30 m (76 ft 5+1⁄4 in). All six of his throws in the competition broke his previous 2016 Olympic Record.

In 2021, Crouser threw 22.82 m (74 ft 10+1⁄2 in) to set a new world indoor shotput record in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. The previous 32-year-old world indoor record of 22.66 m (74 ft 4 in) was set by Randy Barnes in 1989.

In 2022, Crouser led the first-ever sweep of the shot put at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon by winning and setting a World Championship record of 22.94m (75 ft 3 in).

Crouser has been named Track & Field News World Male Athlete of the Year. He has been awarded USA Track & Field’s highest accolade, the Jesse Owens Award, and has twice been a finalist for Male Track and Field World Athlete of the Year by World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field. He has also won the Diamond League championship while setting a championship Diamond League Record.

Joe Kovacs; Photo by Ross Dettman (2020 Millrose Games at The Armory)

At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, Crouser won the silver medal in “the greatest – and closest – shot put competition ever” that “Redefines Men’s Shot Put” according to World Athletics (formerly IAAF).

Crouser is a six-time USA national outdoor shot put champion in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 (no USA National Outdoor Competition was held in 2020), 2022, and 2023.

He is a three-time USA National Indoor Shot Put Champion in 2019, 2020, and 2022. He is a four-time NCAA champion in the shot put indoors and outdoors for the University of Texas. He had previously won the gold medal in the boys’ shot put at the 2009 World Youth Championships.