Crouser, Silvester earn Athlete of the Week honors

INDIANAPOLIS -- For the fourth time this season, Ryan Crouser (Fayetteville, Arkansas) earned USATF Athlete of the Week for his unprecedented efforts in the shot put ring, while Jay Silvester was selected by fans as the winner of the 26th USATF Throwback Athlete of the Week award for setting a world record in the men’s discus on Sept. 18, 1968. In the absence of regular competition during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are taking a weekly look back at some of the great efforts by American track and field athletes through the years.
 
Crouser has been on a streak of 22m meets unlike any other in history, and he added to his totals with a pair of wins at Zagreb, Croatia, and Belgrade, Serbia. At a special city center competition to lead off the Zagreb Continental Tour meet, the reigning Olympic champion had a best of 22.74m/74-7.25, and he won the Belgrade 2022 event with a 22.59m/74-1.5. That competition was held to promote Belgrade’s hosting of the 2022 World Indoor Championships. In 2020 Crouser has had 13 attempts of 22.56m/74-0 or better, and 30 of his throws are more than a half-foot ahead of the nearest challenger.
 
A four-time Olympian in the discus who won silver in 1972 at Munich, Silvester is regarded as one of the event’s greatest practitioners. He set four world records, two in 1961 and two in 1968, and the second in ‘68 was a huge improvement to 68.40m/224-5. It came at an all-comers meet in Reno, Nevada, and was his second throw in the series to better his existing WR. Silvester had a 68.07m/223-4 in round three that surpassed the 66.54m/218-4 he threw at Modesto in May, and then he added to that in the fifth round to tack nearly two meters to his previous world record.
 
In 1971, Silvester had a 70.04m/229-9 at Ystad, Sweden, but the Swedish federation declined to submit it for WR ratification because they deemed the meet to be local in nature. Starting with a fourth-place finish at the 1964 Tokyo Games, Silvester was a finalist at four straight Olympics, taking fifth at Mexico City in ‘68 and eighth at Montreal in ‘76. He also won five AAU national titles in the discus. After retiring from the sport, Silvester was a professor at Brigham Young University, and he was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1998.
 
Other historical performances of note from the September 14-20 period in USATF history:

• September 14 — Tom Lieb World record in men’s discus, 47.61m/156-2 at Chicago, Illinois in 1924
• September 15 — Nellie Todd American record in women’s long jump, 5.54m/18-2 at Cicero, Illinois in 1928
• September 16 — Edward Bloss American record in men’s triple jump, 14.78m/48-6 at Chicago, Illinois in 1893
• September 17 — Walter Rodenbaugh American record in men’s pole vault, 3.49m/11-5 3/8 at Philadelphia in 1892
• September 19 — Beth Bonner American record in women’s marathon, 2:55:22 at New York City in 1971
• September 20 — Lon Myers American best in 220y, 22 3/4 at Mott Haven, New York in 1879 (also set AB in 440y that day at 49 1/5)

Other notable performances from the past week included:

• Aaron Mallett won the men’s 110m hurdles at the Bellinzona, Switzerland, meet in a PR 13.34, and then lowered his lifetime best to 13.23 at the Rome Diamond League meet two days later
• After winning the women’s 100m hurdles at the Zagreb Continental Tour meet in 13.01, Payton Chadwick sped to a season best of 12.89 at the Rome Diamond League meet
• Sandi Morris cleared 4.83m/15-10 in the women’s pole vault at Piedmont, South Carolina, at The Fall Vault meet

Now in its 19th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
 
2020 Winners: January 9, Miranda Melville; January 16, Paul Perry; January 23, Natosha Rogers; January 30, Tyler Day, February 6, Devin Dixon; February 13, Elle Purrier; February 20, Tori Franklin; February 27, Sandi Morris; March 4, Abdi Abdirahman; March 12 Marielle Hall; March 19, Tim Tollefson; April 2, Louise Ritter; April 9, Francie Larrieu Smith; April 16, Erin Gilreath; April 23, Suzy Powell; April 30, Joe Dial; May 7, Dawn Ellerbe; May 14, Ramona Pagel; May 21, Brian Oldfield; May 28, Jackie Joyner-Kersee; June 4, Jesse Owens; June 11, Mary Decker Slaney; June 18, Leroy Burrell; June 25, Sandra Farmer-Patrick; July 2, Jim Ryun; July 9, Evelyn Ashford; July 16, Wilma Rudolph & Shelby Houlihan; July 23, Pat Daniels & Ryan Crouser; July 30, Michael Norman & Mildred “Babe” Didriksen; August 6, Valarie Allman & Parry O’Brien; August 13, Sara Hall & Kevin Young; August 20, Justin Robinson & Jackie Joyner-Kersee; August 27, Donavan Brazier & Renaldo Nehemiah; September 3, Ryan Crouser & Mike Powell; September 10, Ryan Crouser & Wilma Rudolph; September 17, Rudy Winkler & Kate Schmidt; September 24, Ryan Crouser & Jay Silvester.
 
We welcome your nominations!
 
To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about his/her performance to communications@usatf.org.
 
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