Los Angeles sees greatest shot series of all time on a day that also sees impressive wins for Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, Marileidy Paulino and Diribe Welteji

Ryan Crouser threw 23.56m to add 19cm to his own world shot put record at the USATF Los Angeles Invitational on Saturday (May 27). Such was his effort, he almost threw the shot beyond the official throws area.

The event at Drake Stadium was part of the Continental Tour Gold and the biggest athletics event in LA for more than a decade as it gears up to stage the 2028 Olympics.

Crouser’s throw came in the fourth round and his series also included 23.23m in the first round, 23.31m in the third, plus 22.94m, 22.86m and 22.80m.

“I’m really excited because it didn’t feel polished,” Crouser explained. “It felt like I had a tonne of power and I caught a big one.” 

The 30-year-old American finished ahead of Tom Walsh of New Zealand, runner-up with 22.12m.

Elsewhere there were a number of high-quality contests although the crowd was firstly let down by the pre-event withdrawal of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Athing Mu and then, on the night, sprint stars Sha’Carri Richardson and Marie-Josee Ta Lou did not take part in the women’s 100m final after earlier running the heats.

The women in the 100m hurdles had no qualms about facing each other and Jasmine Camacho-Quinn emerged as No.1 from a super-strong line-up with the Puerto Rico athlete clocking a world lead of 12.31 (-0.2) ahead of Keni Harrison’s 12.35 and Tia Jones’ 12.50. World record-holder Tobi Amusan wound up last in 12.69.

Marileidy Paulino won the women’s 400m in a Dominican Republic record and world lead of 48.98 although a few metres behind the 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, who is returning from an anti-doping ban, improved to 50.27 from a modest season opener of 52.24 in Chile the previous weekend. Naser ran 48.14 to win the world title in Doha four years ago but was given a ban for breaking whereabouts rules.

Another world champion from Doha, Timothy Cheruiyot won the men’s 1500m in a world lead of 3:31.47 from his namesake Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot with Hobbs Kessler delighting the home crowd with a 3:32.61 PB as he sprinted past US champion Cooper Teare in the home straight. Such was the quality, 2016 Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz clocked 3:36.64 but was only eighth.

The women’s 1500m also saw a world lead as Ethiopian Diribe Welteji ran 3:57.84 ahead of Britain’s Kate Snowden, whose 4:00.04 lifted her from 22nd to sixth on the UK all-time rankings.

In the absence of Richardson and Ta Lou, the women’s 100m was won by Morolake Akinosun of the United States  in 10.97 (0.2), while Sean Bailey of Jamaica clocked 44.43 to overtake Kirani James in the closing metres of the men’s 400m. 

In the men’s 100m, Ackeem Blake of Jamaica ran a PB of 9.89 (1.0) as he held off Americans Cravont Charleston and Christian Coleman.

The women’s shot also saw quality throwing as Maggie Ewen threw 20.45m to go No.3 on the US all-time rankings as she beat world champion Chase Ealey.

Finally, as the meeting drew to a close, Mondo Duplantis claimed pole vault victory with a 5.91m first attempt clearance ahead of Sam Kendricks.

The two-day meeting began the previous night (May 26) where one of the highlights saw Abdi Nur win the men’s 5000m in 13:05.17 despite falling over early in the race.

“I just stayed calm, respected the competition and let it come to me,” Nur said. “I went out at two and a half laps because that’s where I feel confident. And when I knew to strike.”

Brits Neil Gourley and Jack Rowe ran PBs in the same race with 13:11.44 and 13:20 respectively.