Ryan Crouser won the first final of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials by smashing a world record that has stood since before he was born.
In the fourth of six shot put rounds, Crouser launched it an improbable 23.37 meters (76 feet, 8 1/4 inches), a foot further than his previous personal best of 23.01 meters and nearly 10 inches further than the previous world record.
Crouser’s is the first world record set at the new Hayward Field, a track and field mecca which finished renovation earlier this year in Eugene, Oregon.
“It was a really special moment for me, coming back, first time at the new Hayward,” Crouser told NBC reporter Lewis Johnson, adding that he has been competing at Hayward since he was in fifth grade and it felt like a homecoming of sorts.