Reigning Olympic champion Ryan Crouser talks mid-season injuries and making history at the Paris Olympics

Over the past few seasons, the U.S. team has maintained a consistent record in the men's shot put competition. Ryan Crowther, 31, has helped the team reach the top of the sport at international competitions, including the Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships. At the 2021 Summer Olympics, Crowther successfully defended his Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, and won two gold medals each at the 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Crowther, the world record holder in the shot put, is now looking forward to making history in Paris as he seeks his third Olympic victory as a two-time champion. Having struggled with an elbow injury prior to the 2024 U.S. Trials, he booked his place in Paris with a shot put of 22.84 meters on his fourth attempt on final night. Following Crowther, Joe Kovacs (22.43) and Payton Otterdahl (22.26) took second and third place, respectively.

“Yeah, so I was just happy to be there and be healthy and get through it. Yeah, this spring has been a struggle to say the least. Yeah, it's been a frustrating spring. As an athlete, you dream of the Olympics and you prepare for it for four years and hope everything goes perfectly, and when it doesn't go right it's frustrating and when it doesn't go right multiple times it feels like you're in free fall. So I was just happy to be there. Competing was the most important thing and being healthy and getting through it was the most important thing,” Crowther said in an interview.

“In an event like shot put, the U.S. is arguably the strongest country in the world. Just getting through is the main goal. Of course, winning would be nice, but my main goal was just to qualify for the Olympics. Again, it's a very competitive event. I felt good. I felt like being a veteran in this event gave me an advantage here and allowed me to put pressure on early on.”

“Joe Kovacs is in great form right now so I had to throw some early long throws to get him to react, so as a veteran of the sport, I put pressure on him with the right throws at the right time to make sure he wasn't at his best,” he added.

The pressure of Paris

At the 2021 U.S. Trials, Ryan Krauser set a new world record with a throw of 22.92 meters. The Oregon native set the record in the fourth round, beating the previous record of 23.12 meters set by four-time U.S. champion Randy Barnes in 1990. Fast forward to the 2023 season, at the Los Angeles Grand Prix, Krauser threw 23.56 meters, breaking the world record by 19 centimeters. Krauser currently holds the top two shot put records in the world according to World Athletics and is currently ranked No. 1 in the men's shot put division.

With such a top-notch performance, fans are intrigued to see if Krauser will make history by becoming the first athlete to win three consecutive gold medals in the shot put at the Paris Olympics. But Krauser, who said he is “in great shape and looking forward to Paris,” spoke about the realities of competing in an Olympic event.

“At the Olympics it's a bit of a challenge for me because the goal is always to throw as far as you can. I've always been motivated to throw my personal best and that's what I've trained for. I go out there to compete and do the best I can.”

What the world doesn't know about the Olympics is that they are not ideal conditions. As an athlete, you dream of the Olympics and then you go and you think everything is going to be perfect at the Olympics because that's what you've been training for. But it's really about who can compete best under relatively unfavorable conditions.

“You're staying in the Olympic Village, thousands of miles away from home, the food is different. Before the Tokyo final, it was 103 degrees and you walked 15,000 steps before you stepped on the track for the final. Those conditions are not ideal, so it's a question of who can handle it best, and there's a competitive spirit.

One thing I can say is that I've been in this sport for a long time. I've overcome a lot of adversity over the years. So I'm more than ready to go for my third championship, and it would be a testament to my longevity in this sport. Nobody has ever won three in a row because shot put is so physically demanding. Shot put is a tough sport, so I'm grateful for this opportunity and hopefully I can bring home my third gold medal.”

Injuries from the past two seasons

During the 2024 season, Crowther suffered a number of injuries. At the World Indoor Championships, Crowther “injured” the ulnar nerve in her elbow and underwent hydrolysis surgery to repair the injury. After nearly recovering from the elbow injury, she tore her pectoral muscle while bench pressing, forcing her to withdraw from her first outdoor appearance of the season at the Prefontaine Classic. However, Crowther, who had only competed in two events (indoors) so far this season, “unwittingly qualified” and won the U.S. Qualifier.

“Going into the Trials was a whole new world as I didn't have that level of intensity and training. Due to injuries all my training has been low intensity or very limited and I rarely competed. As a professional athlete you never know how fit you will be or how you will perform so usually I have a good idea and there are always surprises but I have a relatively good idea of ​​how fit I will be heading into the Trials.

I didn't. I had two hard throwing sessions, one decent and one very bad. So I wasn't 100% sure what was going to happen and I focused on my mental preparation more than anything else. I just thought about it in my head. I've thrown in Eugene so many times, so I know the atmosphere. I know the rings. I know what it all looks like from an athlete's point of view. So I just visualized myself making the Olympic team in my head so many times. That was the key. So when I came out of there, I was confident that I was going to make the team, even though my preparation up to that point hadn't given me any confidence at all.”

Crowther is feeling more confident about winning in Paris after placing first at the US qualifiers. She feels healthier every day and is now focused on training.

“For Paris, things will be a little different from now on. At least now I'm back in training and I'm starting to see good signs in training and my elbow continues to improve. I'm getting healthier and healthier. With that, I can be more aggressive and train at a higher intensity and with that comes the confidence that I can be aggressive and not have to worry about injuries.”

Interestingly, this was not the first major injury Crowther had experienced before an international competition: in 2023 she suffered two blood clots in her left leg. However, despite the injuries, she was able to defend her gold medal at the 2023 World Championships. Crowther, who has not experienced any cardiovascular injuries since, is grateful to her team for helping her make the decision to participate in the competition and leave the ring safely.

“Yes, Budapest was a challenge because I had no experience with it before and luckily I haven’t had any cardiovascular injuries or anything like that since then, but I was lucky to have a great medical team around me who gave me the best treatment and left it up to me to make the decisions.

So we worked with a lot of experts to come up with a plan that would allow me to travel to the World Championships and train with minimal risk, physically, in pain, and in terms of risk of aggravating or dislodging a blood clot. So, it's a huge tribute to the team that I had around me at the time. And ultimately, they laid out all the facts and figures and the risks so that I could make the decision whether or not to continue traveling and continue competing. And I did. I feel like the risks were greater than the outcome. So I feel like it was better than the outcome. So I'm glad I did it.”

Facing Loss

Since starting track and field in fifth grade, Crowther's career has been one of victory. In high school, she gained national recognition at the 2009 World Youth Championships, where she won gold and silver medals in the shot put and discus, respectively. She then went on to attend the University of Texas (2012-2016), where she was a four-time NCAA shot put champion. Since then, the athlete has established herself as one of the most successful shot putters in the world, winning the Olympic Games and two World Championships. Thanks to her consistent victories throughout her career, she rarely loses. However, Crowther believes that losses help her improve her skills.

“It is frustrating, for sure. I mean, if you look at top athletes, I think a big part of the reason they're successful is because they hate losing. And it's the same for me. I don't like losing and it definitely motivates me. I've lost because I felt like I wasn't good enough, but I've bounced back from that with a level of dedication and passion that I haven't seen anywhere else. So when I lose, it motivates me to try harder,” Crowther tells me.

5,000 calories a day

Ryan Crowther believes nutrition is a key component of training and athletic performance. The 6-foot-7-inch tall Crowther eats up to 5,000 calories a day to maintain his weight and have enough energy to perform well in the ring. Additionally, to keep his diet from fluctuating too much, Crowther uses an NSF-certified multivitamin from Thorne Health.

“Nutrition is a combination of optimally nourishing your body and meeting your calorie and macronutrient needs, as well as eating enough fat, protein and carbohydrates to maintain the weight you need to perform. But if you're only eating 5,000 calories a day, how do you minimize the impact on your training? If you're only eating 5,000 calories a day, eating the wrong foods can increase inflammation and make it harder to recover.

I can't eat fast food because if I eat 5,000 calories of low quality food, I'm going to feel really terrible. So finding that balance between eating enough and eating high quality food is what allows me to train consistently every day and recover for the next day. That way I can understand what works for me and keep doing it.

I also use supplements. I use a Thorne multivitamin so that my diet doesn't fluctuate too much because I know exactly what works for me and I follow it, but it doesn't fluctuate as much as I would like. So a multivitamin is key to meeting my micronutrient needs and making sure I'm covering all aspects.”