Championship record for Crouser despite blood clots in leg

Shot put giant almost breaks his own world record in Budapest with mighty 23.51m

After being diagnosed with two blood clots in his left leg recently, Ryan Crouser was warned by medics that there were further health risks if he travelled to Budapest to compete in the World Championships.

But the 30-year-old weighed up the level of danger and decided to defend his world crown on Saturday (Aug 19), which he did in glorious style with a 23.51m championship record in the final round which was only five centimetres short of his own world record.

“It’s definitely been a challenge,” he said in an emotional post-competition interview. “Plyometrics and sprinting are the bread and butter of my taper and I’ve not done much of this recently. The last time I really threw hard was London Diamond League (July 23).”

Initially last month he thought he had a calf strain or mild tear but one of his team felt uneasy when it did not react to treatment in the way they would hope and advised Crouser to have it checked out by doctors, which is when the blood clots were spotted.

“It’s been an unfortunate preparation but I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic medical team around me,” he said. “They’ve got me here safely and figured out what medication I can be on with World Athletics’ drug testing. We had to work out how to get me medicated within the rules and to travel and train safely. And we came up with a good plan and they told me what the risks were and the decision was left up to me over what travel I would do.”

He believes the problem arose on London Diamond League weekend, where he may have caught Covid on the way home. “We don’t know what caused [the blood clots] but it was probably a number of factors,” he said.

“I got sick travelling back from London Diamond League and I lost my sense of smell. So it was possibly Covid most likely. Also there was international travel and a four-hour training session in 104 degrees so I was a little dehydrated. There are three major factors there. But I had no swelling, redness or throbbing, so I thought it was a calf strain.”

On the eve of the World Championships, Crouser said: “The last 20 days have been some of the most frustrating and stressful of my life.”

Given this, was it the best performance of his career? “Yes, considering the physical preparation that I’ve had,” he said.

“[The blood clots] impacted my training a lot as I’ve been managing the pain and working out how to throw well technically without any high intensity reps,” he said.

After getting through qualifying on Friday morning, he later threw 22.63m in round one of the final before improving to 22.98m in round two and then 22.28m in round three before a couple of fouls and then 23.51m in the final round.

“As a veteran I tell athletes who I coach that you can make a mistake in a meet but just don’t make the same mistake twice,” the Olympic champion added. “So here I made five mistakes in each of the first five rounds but I didn’t make the same one twice so in the final round I had as close to a perfect throw as I’ve ever had.”

Leonardo Fabbri of Italy took silver with a PB of 22.34m while Joe Kovacs of the United States was third with 22.12m and Tom Walsh of New Zealand fourth with 22.05m.

Earlier in the day British champion Scott Lincoln finished 17^th in qualifying with a best of 20.22m. “It was shocking,” he said. “It was just one of those days. The disappointment is pretty real right now.”

Lincoln’s parents had travelled to Budapest to watch him compete but he struggled to adapt to a throws surface made slippery during his warm-up by the morning downpour but which began to dry up during his competition.

🇬🇧 Scott Lincoln not at his best at these World Champs as he goes out in shot put qualifying with 20.22m.

The Brit says he never got to grips with the conditions in the circle and is very disappointed, especially as his parents came to Budapest to watch.

🎙️ @Jason_AW pic.twitter.com/Py5PARm1zn

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) August 19, 2023

“I just couldn’t get to grips with the circle in warm up at all. I got no rhythm or timing and by the time the competition came it was dry and it was different,” said Lincoln, whose season’s best of 21.10m was set last month in Poland. “I just wasn’t good enough today. Not good enough to adapt quick enough.”

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