The men's shot put at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 2 and 3 August 2024. This was the 30th time that the event is contested at the Summer Olympics.
Summary Since 2016, Ryan Crouser has virtually owned this event. Two successive Olympic Championships, two world records, two world championships and an indoor championship he added earlier in the season. Crouser was a world champion even back to the 2009 youth division. Crouser had been beaten before, most notably at the 2019 World Championships by Joe Kovacs by a single centimeter, in what might have been the greatest shot put competition ever. With Crouser nursing an injury the entire outdoor season, Kovacs beat him again at the U.S. Olympic Trials a month earlier. Kovacs had a history of finishing on the podium of every major championship since the 2015 World Championships, which he won. Crouser and Kovacs are the top two shot putters of all time. Earlier in the season, Leonardo Fabbri threw 22.95m to become #5. Also in the competition were #7 Tom Walsh, #13 Payton Otterdahl and #25 Rajindra Campbell.
In the qualifying round Tomáš Staněk, Otterdahl and Crouser were one and done, reaching the automatic qualifying mark of 21.35 on their first attempt. Jacko Gill and Walsh needed a second attempt to make it, while Fabbri took all three until he got off a 21.76m that led all qualifiers. Kovacs only managed 21.24m in three attempts, but that was enough to qualify seventh. Campbell had to rely on a first attempt 21.05m to squeak into the finals in tenth after two successive fouls.
As the rain began to fall, Otterdahl got the first legal throw 21.39m. Kovacs got the next, 21.69m. Crouser threw almost a meter farther, 22.64m on his first attempt to put the three Americans in the top three positions after the first round. In the second round, Otterdahl improved to second position at 21.98m. After Crouser improved to 22.69m, Campbell tossed a 22.15m to move ahead of Otterdahl. In the third round, Otterdahl made a slight improvement to 22.01m but remained in third. Then Crouser made a bigger improvement to . Bronze medalist at the last two Olympics, competing with an injured groin strain, Walsh fouled his third attempt in a row and did not move into the final rounds. In heavier rain, none of the competitors could stay in the ring. The trend continued through the fifth round and into the sixth. 24 successive attempts only had three inferior legal throws. In fourth place, in bad conditions, Kovacs used his final attempt to throw 22.15m to equal Campbell. And because Kovacs had a better second best throw, he had rocketed into second place. Now off the podium, Otterdahl got off his best throw 22.03m, but it wouldn't catch Campbell. Campbell still had one last chance to improve only enough to beat Kovacs' second best 21.71m, but Campbell fouled. Already the three time gold medalist, Crouser accepted congratulations and did not step into the ring again. The winning throw equaled the 24th best in history, but Crouser had 14 better throws on that list already.
Background The men's shot put has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the inaugural edition in 1896. +Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (Nation)Distance (m)LocationDateWorld record23.56"All time Top lists – Senior – Shot put men", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Los Angeles, United States27 May 2023Olympic record23.30Tokyo, Japan5 August 2021World leading23.13"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – Shot put men", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Eugene, United States25 May 2024 +Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsArea RecordAthlete (Nation)Distance (m)Africa (records)21.97Asia (records)21.80Europe (records)23.06North, Central America and Caribbean (records)23.56 WROceania (records)22.90South America (records)22.61
Qualification
For the men's shot put event, the qualification period was between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. 32 athletes were able to qualify for the event, with a maximum of three athletes per nation, by throwing the entry standard of 21.50 m or further or by their World Athletics Ranking for this event.Sean McAlister, "How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained", Olympics.com, 20 December 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
Results
Qualification The qualification was held on 2 August, starting at 20:10 (UTC+2). 32 athletes qualified for the first round by qualification time or world ranking."Paris 2024 - Olympic Schedule - Athletics", Olympics.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024. Qualification: 21.35 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to the final. RankGroupAthleteNation123DistanceNotes1ALeonardo Fabbri20.44x21.7621.762ATomáš Staněk21.61——21.61, 3BPayton Otterdahl21.52——21.524ARyan Crouser21.49——21.495BTom Walsh20.6521.48—21.486AJacko Gill21.1421.35—21.357BJoe Kovacs20.6521.0621.2421.248BUziel Muñoz20.6920.4321.2221.229BChukwuebuka Enekwechi21.1321.00x21.1310ARajindra Campbell21.05xx21.0511BZane Weir20.2921.00x21.0012AMarcus Thomsen20.81x20.3320.8113BKyle Blignautx20.0320.7820.7814AFilip Mihaljević20.0920.0420.7520.7515BMohammed Tolo20.63x20.6520.6516ATsanko Arnaudov20.0219.8020.3120.3117ABob Bertemes20.27xx20.2718BAndrei Toader20.2420.0020.1020.2419BMichał Haratyk19.4119.8719.9419.9420BMostafa Hassan19.70xx19.7021BScott Lincolnxx19.6919.6922BRoman Kokoshkox19.3619.2219.3623ANazareno Sasia19.33x19.0619.3324BArmin Sinančevićx19.31x19.3125AMohamed Khalifax19.27x19.2726AMesud Pezer19.0119.0318.9419.0327AEric Favors19.0218.3818.8619.0228AKonrad Bukowieckix18.3418.8318.8329ATajinderpal Singh Toor18.05xx18.05AWelington MoraisxxxNMBFrancisco BeloxxxNM
Final The final was held on 3 August, starting at 19:35 (UTC+2) in the evening. RankOrderAthleteNation123456DistanceNotes 6Ryan Crouser 22.64 22.69 22.90 x x — 22.90 4Joe Kovacs 21.69 x 21.71 x x 22.15 22.15 8Rajindra Campbell 20.00 22.15 x x x x22.15 4 2Payton Otterdahl 21.39 21.98 22.01 x x 22.03 22.03 5 11Leonardo Fabbri x 20.96 x 21.70 x x 21.70 6 9Chukwuebuka Enekwechi 20.58 21.42 21.01 x x x 21.42 7 3Jacko Gill x 20.81 21.15 x 19.23 20.47 21.15 8 10Uziel Muñoz 20.68 20.88 20.80 x 20.29 x 20.88 9 1Marcus Thomsen x 20.58 20.67 Did not advance 20.67 10 5Tomáš Staněk 20.3120.37 x Did not advance 20.37 11 7Zane Weir x 20.24 x Did not advance 20.24 12 12Tom Walsh x x x Did not advance NM
References