Ryan Crouser came home.

Competing in his home state, in front of a crowd that included family members he hadn’t seen since Christmas 2019, at the new version of the stadium in which he had some of his first track meets as a kid, Crouser threw 23.37m, setting a new world record in shot put.

After leaving the state to throw the shot put for the Texas Longhorns, the Portland, Ore., native found himself under the spotlight at the 2020 Olympic Trials back in Oregon where it all began.

Crouser says he has known it was possible for him to throw a world record since 2019. A world record has been a dream of his since childhood.

“From the time I started throwing it was really a dream,” Crouser said. “I think any little kid who does track and field or any sport, you dream about breaking a world record...There were so many times I was throwing the six pound shot out behind the school, throwing by myself and putting my hands above my head and yelling, ‘New world record!’”

And this record certainly doesn’t come out of nowhere. Crouser is the 2016 Olympic gold medallist and 2019 World Championship silver medallist. In the year leading up to the Trials, Crouser was named a finalist for the Male Track and Field World Athlete of the Year by World Athletics in 2020. He was undefeated in all 10 of the meets he competed in during that season, had a world-leading throw of 22.91m—third on the all-time list. Crouser also had 36 throws of 22m or better, 14 of those being farther than 22.56m.

The three time USA National Outdoor Shot Put Champion (2016, 2017 and 2019) and two time USA National Indoor Shot Put Champion (2019 and 2020) went into the Olympic Trials as not only the nationwide favorite but also the state of Oregon favorite.

After breaking the 21-year-old meet record on his first throw of 22.92m from a static start in the qualifying round, Crouser knew he had more in the tank for the finals later that day.

And he definitely did.

Throwing just shy of his preliminary record on his first three attempts, Crouser still hadn’t performed like he knew he could. With his fourth throw of the finals, Crouser broke Randy Barnes’s world record that had stood for 31 years. His 23.37m heave officially secured his berth in Tokyo. Crouser’s world record was also the first ever shot put world record to be set at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Crouser grew up watching footage of Barnes, as well as German shot putter, Ulf Timmermann that were dvd formatted versions of old super 8 tapes. And then he and his dad would go out to practice. They would imagine the marker from Crouser’s best throw in practice belonged to either Barnes or Timmermann.

“On the last throw of practice, I had to beat that. So I got used to coming from behind, and yeah, I don’t know how many times I beat Ulf Timmermann or Randy Barnes in practice,” Crouser said with a chuckle.

The consummate athlete, Crouser already has his sights set on furthering his PR: “I think I can still go farther.”

In the meantime, he says, it’s time for a burger tonight, and then getting back to work for Tokyo.