AthleticsAthletics world record

Shot put, men

Record

23.56 m

77.30 ft

Holder
Ryan Crouser
Date
Place
Los Angeles
Standing since
2023 (3 years)

✓ Value cross-checked in a second source

Shot put, men
Photo: jenaragon94 on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) · CC BY 2.0 · Remove this photo

How the record evolved

Chart of the Shot put, men record, from 1909 to 2023 1909 2026 15.54 m 23.56 m

The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).

YearRecordHolder
23.56 mRyan Crouser
23.37 mRyan Crouser (USA)
23.12 mRandy Barnes (USA)
23.06 mUlf Timmermann (GDR)
22.15 mUdo Beyer (GDR)
21.78 mRandy Matson (USA)
19.30 mParry O'Brien (USA)
17.79 mJim Fuchs (USA)
17.40 mJack Torrance (USA)
16.04 mEmil Hirschfeld (GER)
15.54 mRalph Rose (USA)

Put them in order

Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.

  1. 15.54 mRalph Rose (USA)
  2. 23.06 mUlf Timmermann (GDR)
  3. 23.56 mRyan Crouser
  4. 17.79 mJim Fuchs (USA)

What to remember

A 7.260 kg ball pushed from a circle with a stop board: on May 27, 2023, at the USATF LA Grand Prix in Los Angeles, American Ryan Crouser sent it 23.56 m. He was improving on his own record of 23.37 m, set in July 2021.

The men's shot put has been on the Olympic programme since 1896, and in 1909 the record stood at 15.54 m, by Ralph Rose. Parry O'Brien reached 19.30 m in 1959, Randy Matson pushed it to 21.78 m in 1967, and in 1988 Ulf Timmermann threw 23.06 m. Randy Barnes threw 23.12 m in 1990. Between 1909 and 2023 the mark grew by 51.6%, over 114 years.

Crouser won Olympic shot put gold in Rio, Tokyo and Paris, and he was world champion in 2022 in Eugene, in 2023 in Budapest and in 2025 in Tokyo. Indoors, he broke the world record in January 2021, with 22.82 m.

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