Global Shot Put Gold, Silver Medalists To Compete Sept. 14

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

World Athletics confirmed Tuesday that Ryan Crouser's next assault on the world record in the shot put will come Sept. 14 in Croatia and feature a familiar face. 

Joe Kovacs has spent most of the year in training and the world champion will apparently show off his hard work at the 70th Hanzekovic Memorial, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb.

Crouser has been piling up 22-meter throws in his pursuit of the 1990 world record held by Randy Barnes 75-10.25 (23.12m). After throwing six times over 73 feet (22.25m) on Saturday at the Drake Blue Oval Showcase in Des Moines, Iowa, Crouser indicated that he was looking at a short tour of meets in Europe to keep his momentum going. 

As of Sept. 1, Crouser had thrown 22 meters 18 times in competition in 2020 and nobody else had done it once.

Kovacs has not thrown at a meet since the global pandemic hit, but he's been training.

The last time Kovacs and Crouser went head to head was Feb. 8 at the NYRR Millrose Games at The Armory. Crouser threw 72-9.75 (22.19m) for the win that day and Kovacs was second with 70-0.25 (21.34m).