BUDAPEST - Shot put legend Ryan Crouser labelled the successful defence of his world title as "the best performance of his life" given at one point he was unsure he would even be able to get to Budapest due to blood clots in a calf.
The 30-year-old American showed little sign of the health scare as he dominated Saturday's final from the outset and twice broke the championship record.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe had pinpointed the men's shot as the event to savour and Crouser did not let him down, signing off with a stunning 23.51 metres effort, five centimetres off his world record.
Crouser, who comes from a family of throwers, said the run-in to the worlds had been "the most stressful 20 days I've ever had".
"The week before I was supposed to leave I woke up with calf pain and we thought I had a partial tear in my calf.
"We treated it like that but after 10 days of no improvement we had a doctor look at it and he said you have two blood clots."
The two-time Olympic champion said that he then faced a race against time to be cleared to fly.
"My training camp was scrapped so I had to find a way to get here," he said.
"Luckily I had a great medical team working with me and they got me safe to fly.
"So it felt like a relief just to get here, even though I didn't have proper training or preparation."