Ryan Crouser

Ryan Crouser is an American track and field athlete specializing in the shot put and discus. He is best known as the only three-time Olympic gold medalist in the shot put and a multi-time outdoor World Champion. He holds the world record in the shot put both indoors and outdoors, setting the outdoor record of 23.56 meters in May 2023 and the indoor record of 22.82 meters in January 2021.

Born on December 18, 1992, in Portland, Oregon, Crouser was raised in Boring, Oregon, within a family of track and field throwers. His father, uncles, and cousins all competed in Olympic or collegiate throwing events. Crouser began track and field in fifth grade and attended Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon, where he set national high school records in the indoor shot put and outdoor discus. He also won the shot put gold medal and discus silver medal at the 2009 World Youth Championships in Italy.

Crouser attended the University of Texas at Austin from 2012 to 2016, choosing it over his family's traditional school, the University of Oregon. While overcoming injuries and changing his major from engineering to economics, he won four NCAA titles in the shot put. He completed a master's degree in finance while preparing for the 2016 Olympic trials, training under former Olympic discus champion Mac Wilkins.

Making his senior international breakthrough, Crouser won his first national title in 2016 to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. There, he earned his first Olympic gold medal with a record throw of 22.52 meters. Over the following years, he secured multiple national titles and Diamond League victories, as well as a silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar.

In 2021, Crouser broke the indoor shot put world record with a mark of 22.82 meters in January and the outdoor record with 23.37 meters in July. He defended his Olympic title at the Tokyo Games, setting another Olympic record of 23.30 meters. By the end of 2021, he had recorded more than a third of all 22-meter throws in the history of the sport.

Crouser continued his elite career by winning his first outdoor world title at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene. In May 2023, using a new "step-across" technique, he extended his outdoor world record to 23.56 meters, and later won the 2023 World Championship in Budapest with a championship record of 23.51 meters. In 2024, he won gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships and became the first athlete to win three consecutive Olympic shot put gold medals at the Paris Games.

In 2025, Crouser spearheaded the creation of the World Shot Put Series and placed fifth in its inaugural event. He went on to defend his title at the 2025 World Championships with a throw of 22.34 meters, becoming only the second athlete to win three consecutive World Championship gold medals in the event. Among his honors, Crouser has received USA Track & Field's Jesse Owens Award and was named the Track & Field News World Male Athlete of the Year.