(Sports news) Ryan Crouser was one of the nominees for the athlete of the year award as he set new benchmarks in the shot put event. The 28 year old has the top three throws in the history of the event and all of them have come this year. He became the third athlete ever and the first one in 30 years to cross the 23 metre mark. Crouser broke the record of fellow American Randy Barnes who threw 23.12m in 1990, Barnes was the second athlete to achieve the 23m mark. Ulf Timmermann was the first to record a throw above 23m as he did it in 1988 and Barnes erased the record two years later.

Crouser has the 7 top throws of this year and all of them are above 22.80m with 4 of them above the 23m mark. He first crossed the 23 mark in may this year with a throw of 23.01m and went on to break the world record with a throw of 23.37m. Crouser surpassed Barnes and Timmermann becoming the first to do so and he did it twice this year. The second best after Crouser is Barnes' record of 23.12m and the huge difference in them puts Crouser in a league of his own.

Crouser won the gold in 2016 Rio Olympics and in this year’s Tokyo Olympics. He set the Olympic record in 2016 and then broke his own record this year. In the past two Olympics, the medallists have been the same as Joe Kovacs and Tom Walsh repeated what they did at Rio at Tokyo this year. Joe Kovacs was expected to break the 23m barrier this year as he had thrown 22.91 two years which was the first instance since 1990 that an athlete had thrown above the 22.90 mark. But this year it was all Ryan Crouser and it has been for the past two years as he now has a huge lead over Joe and Tom.

Joe Kovacs will need to put up a once in a lifetime performance to better Crouser’s record as he is the only one who can do it. Kovacs will be 34 at the Paris Olympics as an Olympic gold is still pending in his career, Crouser will turn 29 on december 18th and can target 23.50 metre in the 2022 season as he can go further away from his competitors. Crouser has carved his name in all time greats with his performances this year, the way he won events and his dominance in the sport proves he is a tough one to crack.

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