Ryan Crouser plans to defend his shot put world title despite recently finding two blood clots in his leg.
“The last 20 days have been some of the most frustrating and stressful of my life,” Crouser, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder, posted on social media Friday. “The medical team has been great, they explained the risks and did everything to mitigate them and left the decision to go to WC to me and my family. I made it to Budapest and will be competing.
“The medical staff has me on anticoagulant/blood thinners so that it is safe to compete and minimize the risk of it worsening.”
Crouser is set to compete Saturday, the opening day of the nine-day worlds in Budapest. He can become the first man to win four combined Olympic and world outdoor shot put titles.
He will throw on what he called an “unfortunate travel timeline” and “imperfect preparation.”
Crouser posted that he woke up with calf pain after a throwing session “that presented as a strain.”
He trained through the pain for 10 days before getting a scan the day before he left for Budapest. It showed two blood clots in his lower leg.
“Everything kicked into emergency mode at that point,” Crouser posted. “Biggest questions being ‘what’s the safest treatment?’ And ‘is WC even a possibility?’”
Crouser posted that he didn’t have swelling, redness, heat or throbbing symptoms and that the clots were “more distal and smaller than what would typically show” on a muscular ultrasound.
“I don’t believe there’s any way the medical team that has been working with me could have done any better job than what they have,” he posted.