The shot put event at Zagreb’s Fountains on 14 September will for sure attract special attention of the athletics fans throughout the world. It is because the start list of the 6th Ivan Ivančić Memorial includes Olympic champion Ryan Crouser and world champion Joe Kovacs.
At last year’s press conference, Joe Kovacs told the organizers of the Zagreb Meeting to also draw the 23m mark on the shot put field this year. After that, at the World Championships in Doha, he won gold with a throw of 22.91, which is the third result of all time in this event. However, Ryan Crouser will still be the first candidate to break the above mentioned mark.
The Olympic champion and Zagreb Meeting record holder has already thrown 22.91 this year and he won with the mark of 22.72 at Des Moines on Saturday, having thrown over 22 metres in all six attempts. There is no doubt that Crouser will be attacking the world record of 23.12, held by his fellow countryman Randy Barnes for 30 years now, at all meetings that he will be participating in until the end of the season.
Besides Crouser and Kovacs, the start list of the 70th Hanžeković Memorial also includes two-time world champion David Storl, Leonardo Fabbri, who threw 21.99 this year, and Nick Ponzio and Payton Otterdahl, who are currently also among the world’s top ten shot putters.
The Zagreb Meeting record of 22.28m has been held by Ryan Crouser since 2016.
Provisional shot put start list
Ryan Crouser USA
Joe Kovacs USA
David Storl GER
Leonardo Fabbri ITA
Payton Otterdahl USA
Nick Ponzio USA
Tsanko Arnaudov POR
Francisco Belo POR
Marcus Thomsen NOR
Kemal Mešić BIH