Chapter 536: New Shot Put World Record

Chapter 536: New World Record in Shot Put

The live camera followed Meng Fan closely, but it was nearly impossible to hear what Kruger was saying, only seeing him crying and speaking emotionally. After a moment of silence, the commentators from various countries began forced commentary, and surprisingly, more than half of them got it right, even overdoing it, analyzing Kruger’s inner journey more thoroughly than he himself understood.

On the commentary platform, the warmth of the narration contrasted with the audience, who had been utterly bewildered but now wore expressions of understanding. As for Kruger, his storm of tears came quickly, dense, and departed just as fast. This outpouring of genuine emotion was a fierce release of something he had been suppressing. For the other athletes nearby, some felt a shared empathy, and more remarkably, they were inspired—strictly speaking, inspired alongside Kruger.

The world record in shot put was like the peak of a mysterious mountain; everyone knew it existed, but no one had ever seen it. Over time, some inevitably doubted whether it truly existed or if anyone could ever climb it, wondering if the record’s creator had destroyed the path after reaching it themselves.

Now, at last, they had witnessed someone ascend—not standing at the summit, but truly crossing that forbidden line.

Meng Fan breaking through the 23-meter mark was not a blow to these shot putters, at least not to the troika; it was a motivation, a powerful one.

In fact, the inspiration extended beyond the troika. Excluding Ahe Zhuo, during the third round of attempts, more than half of the athletes performed at their best, with three setting new personal bests in that round alone.

The troika also performed well in the third round, all clearing 22 meters, with Ahe Zhuo surpassing 22.5 meters, closely chasing his own Olympic record.

In the third round, Meng Fan once again threw into the 23-meter range—23.07 meters—drawing thunderous applause from the crowd, and all the insiders stood up, unable to sit back down.

If the first attempt hadn’t been a foul, this would have been Meng Fan’s third consecutive throw over 23 meters.

They understood all too well what this meant: it was a stable performance at 23 meters!

And they knew even more clearly what this implied: even a slight overperformance could break the world record!

The world record of 23.12 meters had stood for 31 years, seeming unreachable because no one could enter the 23-meter domain. Once inside, every small improvement represented the potential to shatter the record!

Now, the distance to the world record was just 5 centimeters!

Though those 5 centimeters were precious for all men and all throwing events!

But on the field stood a man worthy of being called the god of sports, the god of strength, a man who had created legends and myths time and again... 5 centimeters should not be able to stop him!

At that moment, everyone saw the possibility of a record being broken, simply because Meng Fan was so steady.

The shot put competition consisted of six rounds of attempts. Everyone waited for Meng Fan’s next three throws, hoping for an extraordinary performance to break the world record that had stood for 31 years.

As for who would win the championship, no one cared anymore. The athletes themselves had stopped caring early on, now simply competing freely while awaiting the miracle.

In the fourth round, the first nine athletes performed steadily or achieved better results, especially the troika.

22.71 meters!

Wallace, performing the Maori war dance, had an extraordinary fourth attempt, throwing better than his unofficial personal best from previous competitions, improving from 22.67 meters to 22.71 meters!

After coming down, Wallace laughed heartily, then, like Kruger before him, burst into a storm of tears, causing Kruger to cry again. Kovacs looked left and right and could only join in crying. After a while, they all laughed together—such a grand scene was unprecedented.

The commentators fell into a brief silence. Then, from some country’s commentary box came a line that would later be widely quoted in the shot put world: “The only one who can make these three peerless tough guys—Wallace, Kovacs, and Kruger—cry at the same time is an even tougher iron man.”

Meng Fan’s fourth attempt arrived.

After the shot put landed, everyone held their breath.

The landing point was clearly beyond 23 meters again, and it seemed farther than his two previous valid throws!

The referee raised the flag to signal no foul, then... the result was not announced immediately. Amid the silence of the entire venue, the head referee led the judging team through multiple verifications before finally announcing the result.

23.15 meters—NEW-WR!

The on-site scoreboard lit up with this result, followed by the mark of a new world record.

The initial silence came because everyone noticed something unusual with the judging team. In that silence, many had already sensed what might happen next. Then, the silence was broken, and the venue erupted!

“A new world record!”

The CCTV-5 commentator’s voice cracked: “23.15 meters, a new world record, a brand-new world record is born! Meng Fan, Meng Fan has broken the men’s shot put world record that stood for 31 years!”

“He did it, he did it!”

“Meng Fan, who caught the attention of the national track and field team last year when he threw an unexpected result in the shot put at a school sports meet, was personally invited by the head coach to Hangzhou to join the team. In just one year, with his formidable strength, he has come this far—breaking the national record in domestic trials, the Asian record at the Asian Athletics Grand Prix, and now the world record at the Diamond League!”

“Meng Fan, the first athlete in Olympic history to win five gold medals across three major events! The greatest wrestler and judoka of all time, holding three world records in weightlifting—clean and jerk, snatch, and total. From now on, his list of honors will include the men’s shot put world record!”

“Someone once said of Meng Fan: in any sport related to strength, Meng Fan is bound to be the world’s best, and the best in history. If there is a sport where he is not yet number one, it’s only because he hasn’t tried it yet. Shot put once again proves the accuracy of this statement!”

“Congratulations to Meng Fan! We look forward to his next two attempts and the javelin competition to come!”

Meng Fan was clearly not one to “stop after a taste.” Merely improving the old world record by 3 centimeters was not his style. Moreover, he was in good form today, without deliberately forcing his competitive state. In the next two attempts, he still delivered results, each throw breaking the world record anew.

The fifth attempt: 23.23 meters, an improvement of 8 centimeters.

The sixth attempt: 23.30 meters, another improvement of 7 centimeters!

There was some deviation from the expectations of many “math enthusiasts,” who had predicted his final result would be 23.33 meters. The actual result was 23.30 meters—conventionally ignoring the trailing zero, there was no real discrepancy.

(The chapter ends)