Ryan Crouser beats injury and wins his third world shot put title to go with three Olympics golds

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TOKYO (AP) — When he closes the book on 2025, Ryan Crouser will have six official shot put attempts on the books. And one world championship.

Talk about quality over quantity.

Nursing an excruciating elbow injury all season, the 32-year-old American cut his practice down to near nothing, got on the plane for Tokyo hoping for the best and walked out with his third straight world title Saturday.

He joined Switzerland’s Werner Günthör as the second man to win three straight shot put titles at world championships. This was the latest and most unlikely triumph for Crouser, who also has three straight Olympic titles to his name.

Did he think he had a chance, given the injury, the lack of preparation and the solid field of throwers who thought maybe, finally, they'd have their own chance to win?

“It was really tough to say, because I really haven't thrown hard, haven't seen a ball go more than 20 meters in practice," Crouser said. “So I just didn't know what was going to be in the tank tonight."

Crouser's winning throw of 22.34 meters (73 feet, 3 1/2 inches) doesn't rank in his top 10 — and yet, it is still the fifth-longest throw in the world this year. Not bad for a guy who rated the pain on a humid, still night at about a 3 or 4 out of 10 — tolerable given what he's been through over the past 12 months.

“When you're throwing well, the energy transfers through the ball, you get a nice release off the hand and it's efficient,” Crouser said. “It's the bad ones that hurt.”

Uziel Munoz of Mexico set a national record and earned a silver medal with his throw of 21.97. Italy's Leonardo Fabbri added bronze to his silver from two years ago in Budapest.

Crouser has been dealing with what's called a nerve entrapment in his elbow. At a recent MRI to gauge the injury, the techs injected contrast fluid into the joint and it leaked out to his forearm, an indicator of how severely damaged the elbow really was.

“It's been a long process," he said.

By evening's end on another fantastic night in Tokyo for the champion — he won the Olympics here in 2021, as well — Crouser might have spent more time in the hallways doing post-victory interviews than out on the field for his six throws.

His only six throws of the year.

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

The answer to that question was hanging around his neck — another gold medal.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games