Former Longhorn Ryan Crouser preps for run at third Olympic gold

AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's hard to believe that so far into his illustrious track and field career Ryan Crouser won a world championship for the first time, but that's exactly what he did in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Crouser, a two-time Olympic champion and world record holder in the shot put, claimed his first World Athletics Indoor championship in March, something the former Texas Longhorn said had been on his mind for quite a while.

"It was kind of a box for me to check for to see where I'm at," Crouser told FloTrack after his win. He won the title with a mark of 22.77 meters (74 feet, 8.46 inches), a championship meet record, and it was a barometer of how his training was going heading into the trials that begin June 21.

"It was a reflection of where I want to be," he said. "There were technical issues I struggled with, but in indoors I just want to be big, strong and powerful. I'm excited to move to outdoors and work on the things I've been working on."

Trusting his training has been critical as he continues to build toward making the U.S. Olympic team for Paris, which by the way the trials are set up, is not a guarantee — even for a guy with his pedigree. He still has to finish in the top three at the trials, but he feels ready.

"This was the one thing I'd really been missing, a world indoor title," he told LetsRun.com. "This was a checkpoint in my training and I wanted to see where I was at physically."

As he cleans up the technical issues, he said the potential to throw far "is certainly there." Crouser set the world outdoor record of 77 feet, 3.75 inches, breaking his previous world record mark by 7.5 inches, at UCLA's Drake Stadium in 2023.

The opening round of the shot put is slated for 8:15 p.m. CT, June 21, with the finals at 6:40 p.m. CT, June 22 from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.