The men's shot put at the 2023 World Athletics Championships was held at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest on 19 August 2023.
Summary
With two Olympic Championships and multiple world record improvements, defending champion Ryan Crouser was the clear favorite, but Crouser revealed on Instagram; pain in his leg over the previous two weeks turned out to be two blood clots. With the advice of his doctor, he was able to take anticoagulants to mitigate the danger of his traveling to Hungary for these championships. His single throw in the preliminary round was tentative, 21.48m barely sufficient for an automatic qualifier in eighth place.
Crouser was the first thrower in the finals. His first throw of the competition was 22.63m. Only two people in this competition had ever thrown that far. With a 21.55m, #2 of all time, Joe Kovacs moved into second place, followed immediately by World Indoor Champion Darlan Romani throwing 21.31m to move into third. Crouser led off the second round with a 22.98m improvement on his own Championship Record. Tom Walsh moved into second with a 21.69m with his New Zealand teammate Jacko Gill lurking in fourth with 21.46m. In the third round Gill improved to second with a 21.76m, only to have Walsh also improve to 21.93m. He was followed immediately by Leonardo Fabbri throwing a personal best 22.34m to take everybody but Crouser down a notch. In the fifth round, Kovacs put out a 22.12m to move back to third place, the next thrower Walsh couldn't quite answer with a 22.05m. On their final throw, nobody could improve so by the time Crouser got to the ring, his championship defense was guaranteed. With nothing on the line, Crouser let loose a for another Championship Record, along with being the #2 throw in history, just 5cm short of the record he set at UCLA earlier in the season.
Records
Before the competition records were as follows:
The following records were established during the competition:
Qualification standard
The standard to qualify automatically for entry was 21.40.
Schedule
The event schedule, in local time (CEST), was as follows:
Results
Qualification
Qualification: Qualifying Performance 21.20 (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advanced to the final.
Final
The final was started on 19 August at 20:40.