Ryan Crouser will undergo surgery on his right elbow after breaking the tip of the olecranon, which is at the base of the elbow, and ending his 2026 season.
In a video posted to his Youtube channel on Sunday and shared on social media, Crouser said that “it’s become clear that surgery is the only option.”
Crouser, 33, said he “snapped off the tip” of his olecranon in May, which would have been during the first Diamond League meets in China, and will removed. During the the surgery other lingering issues Crouser has experienced in that part of the arm will also be addressed.
The olecranon is the large, curved bony surface at the tip of the elbow and forms the upper end of the larger forearm bone. It serves as a lever for the triceps muscle to straighten the arm. However, it is extremely vulnerable to breaks from falls and damage from high tension overuse.
Crouser, 33, said that he competed in the shot put at Diamond League meetings in China, Rabat and Rome this season despite the injury and that he was making “the right decision for the long term.” He placed third, second, third in those meets.
“I had one throw at extension that I felt compared to a crunch feeling,” Crouser said. “Then I could not go back into flexion. I just lost complete flexion — I had a hard stop. And that was the bone getting stuck in the joint”
At last year’s world championships in Tokyo, Crouser made his only appearance of the year because of injuries and won his third straight men’s shot put title with a 22.34m throw to beat Uziel Muñoz (21.97m) and Leonardo Fabbri (21.94m) who took third.
“Unfortunately having to have surgery on it hopefully longterm it’s the right call,” Crouser said. “Always nervous going under anesthetic and waking up and hoping that the elbow is fixed. It’s a decent bit of recover time and is going to cost me the rest of the season.”
