U.S. Olympic trials: Ryan Crouser breaks the men’s shot put world record, and six athletes earn tickets to Tokyo.

 

The shot put vector at Eugene’s new Hayward Field extends about 25 metres (82 feet) from the athletes’ launch point circle.

And, in front of a partisan crowd on Friday night, Oregon native Ryan Crouser nearly threw beyond the vector.

Crouser, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, threw the 16-pound ball 23.37 metres in his fourth and sixth throws, breaking the world record (76 feet, 8.25 inches).

He broke fellow American Randy Barnes’ record of 23.12 metres (75-10) set in May 1990.

Crouser, 28, has been chasing the record this spring after setting a new indoor world record in January (22.82m, 74-10.5). He had a throw of 23.01m last month, the third-longest ever and the farthest since Barnes’ record-breaking throw.

Crouser knew it was a special throw the moment it left his hand, raising his arms over his head in celebration even as he finished his spin and exited the circle.

Earlier in the day, in the preliminary round, his first throw of 22.92m (75-2.2) broke the American Olympic Trials record.

“It was a really special moment for me, coming back [to Oregon], first time in the new Hayward, I was here in the Junior Olympics throwing javelin in fifth grade,” Crouser told NBC, adding that he’d dreamed of this moment since he was a young kid starting out in the sport. “It felt like a weight was lifted after trying for [the record] for so long.”

Crouser will be joined in Tokyo by Joe Kovacs, the reigning World Champion (Crouser finished second in that competition), and Payton Otterdahl, whose lifetime best of 21.92m in the fifth round earned him the third spot for the United States by three centimetres over Darrell Hill, who joined Crouser and Kovacs in Rio in 2016.

On Friday night, three other athletes earned Olympic berths in the men’s 10,000 metres: Woody Kincaid, a former University of Portland All-American; Grant Fisher, Stanford’s 5000m NCAA titlist in 2017; and Joe Klecker, a former Colorado standout. For the first time, all three will compete in the Olympics.

In any case, Allyson Felix advanced in the women’s 400m with the fourth-fastest first-round time, 50.99 seconds, on Friday, all preliminary races. Felix, the most decorated woman in American track and field history with nine Olympic medals, is aiming to make her fifth Olympic team, this time as a mother of a toddler. The event’s semi-finals will take place on Saturday, 10:20 p.m. ET.

In the men’s 800m, reigning World Champion Donovan Brazier (1:45.00) is expected to lead the pack into the semifinals. Isaiah Jewett of the University of Southern California is also in the semifinals after winning his first NCAA championship last weekend.

Valarie Allman set a U.S. Trials record in women’s discus with a throw of 70.01m (229-8), and she heads to the finals with her Olympic spot seemingly secure: the next-closest throw in the preliminary round was more than eight metres behind Allman.

Young star Sha’Carri Richardson continued her impressive spring with a 10.84 second first-round effort to lead the pack in the women’s 100 metres. Teahna Daniels (11.02 seconds), the reigning US champion, and Tianna Bartoletta (11.27 seconds), the 35-year-old three-time gold medalist, also advanced to the semifinals.

The men’s decathlon kicks off Day 2 of the US Track and Field Olympic Trials on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Events will begin at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and NBCSN.