2023 World Athletics Championships – Men's shot put

With two Olympic Championships and multiple world record improvements, defending champion Ryan Crouser was the clear favorite, but Crouser revealed on Instagram that pain in his leg over the previous two weeks turned out to be two blood clots. With the advice of his doctor, he was able to take anticoagulants to mitigate the danger of his traveling to Hungary for these championships.^[2] His single throw in the preliminary round was tentative, 21.48m barely sufficient for an automatic qualifier in eighth place.

Crouser was the first thrower in the finals. His first throw of the competition was 22.63m. Only two people in this competition had ever thrown that far. With a 21.55m Joe Kovacs moved into second place, followed immediately by World Indoor Champion Darlan Romani throwing 21.31m to move into third. Crouser led off the second round with a 22.98m improvement on his own Championship Record. Tom Walsh moved into second with a 21.69m with his New Zealand teammate Jacko Gill lurking in fourth with 21.46m. In the third round Gill improved to second with a 21.76m, only to have Walsh also improve to 21.93m. He was followed immediately by Leonardo Fabbri throwing a personal best 22.34m to take everybody but Crouser down a notch. In the fifth round, Kovacs put out a 22.12m to move back to third place, the next thrower Walsh couldn't quite answer with a 22.05m. On their final throw, nobody could improve so by the time Crouser got to the ring, his championship defense was guaranteed. With nothing on the line, Crouser let loose a 23.51 m (77 ft 1+1⁄2 in) for another Championship Record, along with being the #2 throw in history, just 5cm short of the record he set at UCLA earlier in the season.

Before the competition records were as follows:^[3]

More information Record, Athlete & Nat. ...

Record	Athlete & Nat.	Perf.	Location	Date
World record	Ryan Crouser (USA)	23.56 m	Los Angeles, United States	27 May 2023
Championship record	Ryan Crouser (USA)	22.94 m	Eugene, Oregon	17 July 2022
World Leading	Ryan Crouser (USA)	23.56 m	Los Angeles, United States	27 May 2023
African Record	Janus Robberts (RSA)	21.97 m	Eugene, United States	2 June 2001
Asian Record	Tajinderpal Singh Toor (IND)	21.77 m	Bhubaneswar, India	19 June 2023
North, Central American and Caribbean record	Ryan Crouser (USA)	23.56 m	Los Angeles, United States	27 May 2023
South American Record	Darlan Romani (BRA)	22.61 m	Stanford, United States	30 June 2019
European Record	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	23.06 m	Chania, Greece	22 May 1988
Oceanian record	Tom Walsh (NZL)	22.90 m	Doha, Qatar	5 October 2019

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The following records were established during the competition:

More information Date, Event ...

Date	Event	Name	Nationality	Distance	Record
19 August	Final	Ryan Crouser	USA	23.51	CR

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The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 21.40.^[4]

The event schedule, in local time (CEST), was as follows:^[5]