Ryan Crouser defends Olympic shot put gold medal

Team USA's issues with the men's 4x100 meter relay continue in Thursday's prelims.

TOKYO — The scene at Olympic Stadium Thursday morning had a familiar look.

Or, in the case of the U.S. men’s sprinters, all too familiar.

Team USA’s Ryan Crouser dominated the shot put competition, successfully defend the gold medal he won five years earlier in Rio de Janeiro.

And once again the American men found a way to screw up the 4×100 meter relay.

Crouser won his second Olympic gold with the most dominant performance in the event’s history, all six of his throws landing beyond his old Olympic record (73 feet, 10 ¾ inches) and finishing more than two feet ahead of silver medalist Joe Kovacs of the U.S.

“Ryan brings it every time,” Kovacs said. “There’s not going to be an easy day.”

And the Oregonian who was an NCAA champion at Texas brought it big time Thursday.He opened the day by adding more than a foot to the Olympic record with a 74-11 throw and then came back a round later with 75-2 ¾ blast.

Kovacs threw 74-3 ¾ in the fourth round but it was as close as he or anyone else get to Crouser. When Kovacs’ final throw landed at 74-1 3/4, Crouser had a second gold medal.

He wasn’t finished however.

Crouser had hoped to break the world record of 76-8 1/4 he set at the Olympic Trials in June, motivated in part by Norway’s Karsten Warholm’s world record shattering 400 hurdles victory Tuesday.

“I think so,” Crouser said after the qualifying round when asked if was was ready to lower the mark Thursday. “The circle’s the same size, the shot’s still 16 pounds, so it’s all on me to go out and execute. The exciting thing now is that I’m just trying to throw a personal best and if I can do that, it’ll be a world record, so that’s an exciting spot to be in.

“The more world records we see, the better. I was definitely inspired by the 400 hurdles, so I did the math and that was a 1.6 percent (improvement on the) world record. So if I can throw 77-11, I can say I beat Karsten Warholm, so that’s my goal.”

The 77 foot barrier is still a ways off, but Crouser gave his world record a scare, launching a 76-5 1/2 bomb for his encore, the second longest throw in history.

“My mindset was really good going in, practice went really well, so today it was a lot about heat management,” Crouser said. “We knew it would be a long comp and we knew it would be hot. The key was getting a big one (throw) early. I managed to do that. I had solidified the win by the end so I got a little more aggressive and chased that bigger throw and finally connected with it (on the final throw).”

New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh took the bronze medal, throwing 73-8 3/4 in the final round, to ensure the medal podium in Tokyo would be an exact replica of the stand five years earlier in Rio.

“Ryan is timing it well and nailing it bang on and getting it done,” Walsh said. “Joe and I are just not quite getting it. But you kind of forget that (73-8 3/4) would have (almost) been an old Olympic record and Joe’s (74-3 3/4) would have been as well. The three of us keep taking the game to another level for sure.”

The American men also continued to take the 4×100 relay to another level.

Between 1920 and 1984, the Team USA men won the 4×100 in all but one of the Olympics the U.S. attended.

But the U.S. disqualification in the event in Rio marked the sixth time in the previous seven, the eighth time in the previous 12 major championships – Olympic Games or World Championships – that the  4×100 relay had either been disqualified or failed to finish.

In Tokyo, the U.S. men didn’t even make it to the final.

Kenny Bednarek, the 200 silver medalist and a member of the relay pool, said Wednesday night what leg he would run. He also admitted that he at least hadn’t practiced exchanges.

“We are all running fast right now,” said Ronnie Baker, the U.S. third leg. “Fred (Kerley) is running 9.8 (in the 100) and I am running 9.8. Trying to time that up perfectly with a couple of practices is tough.”

It showed Thursday morning, the squad of Trayvon Bromell, Kerley, the 100 silver medalist, Baker and Cravon Gillespie finished a non-qualifying sixth at 38.10, Bednarek apparently saved for a final Team USA didn’t reach.

“We just didn’t get the job done today,” Kerley said. “No excuses.”

The latest relay debacle extended a Team USA dry streak in the men’s short sprints. Tokyo marked the fourth consecutive Games that the U.S. failed to win either the 100, 200 or the 4×100 relay.

“We’ve definitely got to pick it up for the Worlds next year and the next Olympics,” Gillespie said, “because this is unacceptable.”

The biggest surprise of the morning came in the 110 hurdles where Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment upset World champion Grant Holloway of the U.S.

Holloway was not only a heavy favorite to claim the gold in Tokyo, but also projected to break the world record of 12.80 set by Aries Merritt in 2012. Holloway just missed taking down the mark at the Olympic Trials, running 12.81.

But he couldn’t hold off Parchment Thursday, the Jamaican just edging him 13.04 to 13.09 in the final meters.

“The greatest feeling, the greatest feeling, I’ve worked so hard,” said Parchment, the bronze medalist at the 2012 Games.” It’s unbelievable that I caught this guy (Holloway).”