World indoor shot put champion Darlan Romani in Belgrade (© Getty Images)
As upsets go, this was about as big as it gets. At the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22 on Saturday night (19), the gold medal in the men’s shot put did not go – as expected – to USA’s Ryan Crouser. Instead it went to Brazil’s Darlan Romani, who unleashed a championship record of 22.53m to defeat the world record-holder and reigning Olympic champion, who took silver with 22.44m.
This was not so much a case of Crouser losing the gold. After all, the mark he managed is one only two other men in history have ever surpassed indoors, and was just 7cm shy of his season’s best. No, this was a case of Romani winning it, throwing like a man possessed, adding 82cm to his South American indoor record.
In the opening round, things were going the way most thought they would, with Crouser unleashing a 22.44m effort to seize command, closely followed Tomas Walsh, who threw a New Zealand indoor record of 22.29m.
Romani’s opening effort of 21.74m suggested he could be in the minor medal shake-up, a position he strengthened in the second round with 21.79m.
But then it happened, the 30-year-old exploding the ball out to an astonishing 22.53m, the seventh best indoor throw of all time, which puts him fourth on the all-time indoor list, just 7cm shy of his outdoor best.
Crouser tried to respond, but couldn’t find extra distance, throwing 22.32m in the fourth round, and he was forced to settle for silver, his first defeat since the 2019 world final in Doha and his first time losing indoors since the 2015 NCAA Championships. He revealed afterwards that he’d been struggling with an impingement in the radial nerve of his arm in recent months.
“I’m having some trouble extending all the way on the ball and it’s definitely costing me some distance,” he said. “I’m not fully finishing the throw, but we’re working on it and it’s getting better. I’m not displeased with how it went. I would have been happy to win but was not expecting that a 22.44m would not. Huge congrats to Romani.
“I was really happy with how I started, but a little frustrated with how I threw in the latter rounds. I failed to prepare for the slowness of the comp. We were out there a long time.”
Walsh took bronze, but for a man of his accomplishments that was never going to leave him fully satisfied.
“Frustrating,” he said. “I hate losing and it still doesn’t feel the greatest. I’m somewhat okay with my distance but I knew I had a lot more in the tank. The good thing is I’ve proven I’m a big-time performer but I haven’t thrown here or in Tokyo what I was worth, and I need to fix it.
“I wasn’t as loose as I should be in the circle, I had the handbrake on, and while they’re not bad throws they’re not where I need them to be. But Romani threw incredibly well and so did Ryan. I mean, I threw the same distance four years ago to win it.”
It proved a final of astonishing quality from a discipline that continues to prove compelling. It was the first ever indoor competition where more than one man surpassed 22 metres, and featured the best ever marks from positions second to seventh, and from ninth to 17th.
Croatia’s Filip Mihaljevic took fourth place with 21.83m, while USA’s Josh Awotunde was fifth with 21.70m and Italy’s Zane Weir set a national indoor record of 21.67m in sixth.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics
| MEN'S SHOT PUT MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Darlan Romani 🇧🇷 BRA | 22.53 CR |
| 🥈 | Ryan Crouser 🇺🇸 USA | 22.44m |
| 🥉 | Tomas Walsh 🇳🇿 NZL | 22.31m AIR |
| Full results | ||
