Ryan Crouser, 23, shattered the Olympic record in the men's shot put with a massive personal best throw of 22.52m. After exhausting his eligibility at the University of Texas this winter, four-time NCAA Champion Crouser is now an Olympic Champion. Ulf Timmermann of Germany previously held the record with his 22.47m throw in Seoul.



The U.S. swept the men's and women's shot put titles with Crouser and Michelle Carter winning the women's competition earlier this week, and they both coincidentally both graduated from the University of Texas.

American Joe Kovacs threw 21.78m to earn the silver medal, making the men's shot put the third field event (after men's triple jump and women's long jump) where the U.S. swept the gold and silver medals.

Crouser's winning throw of 22.52m is a huge improvement from his 22.11m mark set en route to winning the U.S. trials. The toss makes him tied with John Brenner as No. 10 performer all-time and No. 6 U.S. performer in history.

His margin of victory over Kovacs is the largest in Olympic history, and it is the first outright U.S. Olympic victory in this event since 1996.*

Hear from Ryan Crouser after he tied the indoor NCAA record at the 2016 Big 12 Championships:

Ryan Crouser wearing his Olympic gold medal. Good day for the kid from Gresham pic.twitter.com/RcA6d7UXTP

— Chris Hansen (@chansen_RG) August 19, 2016

*Adam Nelson was awarded the gold medal from the 2004 Athens Games after Yuri Bilonog of the Ukraine was stripped of his medal for doping violations