Blue White Illustrated

J oe Kovacs thought maybe the time had come for him to retire. He had won the 2015 shot put world championship, then silver medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2017 world championships. But the 2018 season had been tough: He lost his Nike sponsorship, and he stopped getting invites to the Di- amond League, the top professional track and field circuit. And he'd already known that 2019 was a transition year. He got married. Moved to Columbus, Ohio. Switched coaches. Played around with his technique. And all of it was a little harder than he had expected. "I wasn't throwing as far," said Kovacs, a 2012 Penn State graduate. "And I was hearing people tell me I could be done. And I honestly thought maybe I should hang it up. It's been a good ride." Before he did anything rash, Kovacs sat down and talked with his wife, Ashley – who is also his coach and the throws coach at Ohio State. They decided that the goal all along had been to compete in one more Olympic Games, 2020 in Tokyo, and that he should keep going. "We just decided to go all in," Ashley Kovacs said, "and see what would hap- pen." Here's what happened: Joe Kovacs won the 2019 world title in what was immedi- ately labeled the best shot put competi- tion in history. On his final attempt in the 2019 IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Champi- onships in Doha, Qatar, Kovacs threw a personal-best 75 feet, 2 inches, the fourth-best throw of all-time. That's 22.91 meters, and it was one centimeter farther than the competition's leader, Tom Walsh of New Zealand, had thrown. Kovacs let out a roar that could be heard throughout Khalifa International Sta- dium. Then he had to sit and watch fellow American Ryan Crouser take his final throw – which improbably turned out to also be 22.90 inches, tying him with Walsh and earning him the silver medal because his next-best throw was farther than Walsh's. No one could remember a competition in which the top three finishers were sep- arated by such a small amount. "We were expecting it to be crazy," said Darrell Hill, a 2015 Penn State graduate, who finished fifth. "I didn't know it would be this crazy." Added Ashley Kovacs, "I was com- pletely taken aback by the whole thing. Just completely amazing – the entire competition." Kovacs had been in fourth place going into this final attempt, and all he was hoping for was a personal best and a spot on the podium. Ashley told him that no one expected him to do well, so he should just go after it. "If you foul," she said, "at least you'll go out swinging." Kovacs said that when the ball came off his hand, he suspected it was a personal best. "I felt everything line up," he said. "All the hard work we did." Next up: more work. Kovacs said the world championships are easy – the hard part is competing at the U.S. nationals and the U.S. Olympic trials against Crouser and Hill and a field of up-and- comers. "I had more stress making this team than I did today," he said in Doha, about an hour after his victory. "It took 22 me- ters to make this team. So the U.S. Olympic trials – I'm already thinking about it. As happy as I am about this, it doesn't help me at all for Tokyo. I've still got to do it again." ■ T R A C K & F I E L D Kovacs goes 'all in' to claim world shot put crown | GOING LONG Kovacs turned in a personal- best throw of 22.91 meters at the world championships and held on to win the title by one centime- ter. Photo by Getty for IAAF

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