LOS ANGELES >> Ryan Crouser’s latest world record is the product of an “ah ha” moment around 10 p.m. in a barn near Fayetteville, Ark., last December.

Crouser, the two-Olympic champion, became the first man to break the 77-foot barrier with a 77-feet, 3 3/4-inch world-record heave at the Los Angeles Grand Prix at Drake Stadium on the UCLA campus Saturday afternoon, further solidifying his status as not only the greatest shot putter in history but the most dominant male track and field athlete of his generation with a performance that raised the question of just what is the limit to how far he can launch the 16-pound sphere?

Seventy-eight feet? Seventy-nine? Eighty?

“I don’t think there’s any true limit?” Crouser said.

Few in attendance at what had been billed as the most talent-rich track meet hosted by Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games would disagree.

But an afternoon that celebrated the brilliance Crouser, pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis or hurdler Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, the promise of young milers Diribe Welteji and Hobbs Kessler, and the resilience of halfmiler Clayton Murphy, was also the latest in a series of squandered opportunities for a sport struggling to raise its domestic profile and sell itself to a new generation of American fans.

The meet produced seven world-leading marks, albeit still early in the season. But world bests like Duplantis’ 19-feet-4 3/4 inch victory on few misses over Sam Kendricks of the U.S. or Olympic champion Camacho-Quinn’s 12.31 win in the 100 hurdles shared equal billing with the American sport’s failure to once again deliver some of its biggest stars in a major market and for a national television audience.

The meet had lost a significant portion of its star power in recent weeks with the withdrawal of Olympic champions Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Athing Mu and Michael Norman, and Rai Benjamin, the Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, due to health or injury concerns.

But at least the crowd of 7,248 knew the quartet would not be competing. What the fans--not to mention NBC, who broadcasted the meet live, and the events corporate sponsors--didn’t expect was to find two empty lanes for the women’s 100-meter dash final, which after McLaughlin-Levrone’s withdrawal had become the meet’s main event on the track.

The 100 was supposed to feature three of the fastest women in the world this season. Sha’Carri Richardson, the sport’s lightning rod and the season’s world leader at 10.76, opened the meet by winning her 100-meter heat in a stadium record 10.90 seconds. Moments later Marie-Josese Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, 2023’s second fastest woman, won the second heat in 10.88 with Aleia Hobbs, fifth in the world this spring, advancing in a comfortable third at 10.99.

When the field settled into the blocks for the final 93 minutes later the middle two lanes were empty and Richardson, Ta Lou and Hobbs were nowhere to be seen. Richardson, struggling leg cramps according to a USA Track & Field official, scratched early enough that another runner could be added to the final.

“Nobody knew what was going on,” said Morolake Akinosun, who won the final in 10.97.

The situation wasn’t any clearer 30 minutes after the meet.

USATF CEO Max Siegel was asked if there was an explanation for why the trio had withdrawn.

“I haven’t gotten any yet,” Siegel said. “It happened in real time.”

If you look at it from purely commercial stand point it contributes to a little bit of frustration for marketing event,” Siegel said. “But when you look at it from keeping the athletes safe and healthy and prepared...you do understand that stuff happens.”

Among the frustrated was Murphy, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the 800.

The men’s 800 was bumped from NBC’s broadcast window Saturday depriving viewers of not only the afternoon’s most dramatic finishes but the kind of compelling storyline that could propel track and field beyond the sports section for something other than doping scandals.

Murphy, showing the finishing speed that landed him on the Olympic medal podium in Rio de Janeiro and was largely absent last season, somehow navigated a crowded home stretch to catch Kenya’s Festus Lagat in the closing meters for a 1 minute, 44.75 second victory.

Afterward, Murphy celebrated his infant son Cash.

“It’s great to have him here,” Murphy said.

Murphy met his wife and fellow Olympian Ariana Washington, a former Long Beach Poly and Oregon sprint sensation, in an athlete lounge at the Rio Olympic Village. They were married in 2019.

Washington had a difficult pregnancy in 2022.

“Last year was Ari sick 24/7. Literally couldn’t function on her,” Murphy said.

Cash was born in December, 12 weeks premature.

“At first we thought they were fake contractions and then it went from fear to surprise to fear,” Murphy said.

Cash spent 65 days in a Cleveland NIC unit.

“So this is really special,” Murphy said.

Crouser, focused on peaking at the World Championships in Budapest in August and Diamond League final in Eugene in September, arrived in Los Angeles this week hoping to break Randy Barnes’ stadium record of 75-10, a 1990 mark that stood as the world record for 31 years until Crouser broke 76-8 1/4 throw at the 2021 Olympic Trials.

Crouser claimed the stadium record on his opening throw, 76-2 3/4, briefly the second-best throw in history. He improved to 76-5 1/2 on his second throw and had a solid 75-3 1/4 effort in the third round.

Crouser throws using the spin technique whether he gathers speed and momentum across the ring in a circular motion. Since high school he had refined his technique, constantly looking for ways to generate more speed going into the throw.

“Looking from a physics standpoint how can I increase my acceleration path on the ball, how can I make that acceleration path more dynamic,” the Oregon native said. “The physics of the shot put are very complex but at the roots they’re very simple. Releasing and velocity. When you can release at a higher velocity that ball is going to go further.

“At the end of the day a very small change can be a big result. In the shot put one inch in the circle is a meter in distance so those changes are so small.

“Some of the true innovations, it comes when it comes,” Crouser added. “If you’re constantly experimenting and trying new stuff you have that light bulb moment.”

That moment came on a late night last December in the shot put ring he built in his barn that also serves as a workshop. Imagine the shot put ring as a clock. Crouser, like most spinners, starts at 6 o’clock. But on this night Crouser tried starting at 8 o’clock which gave him more distance and an extra step to add momentum.

“With most of the other techniques I’ve tried the ring confining me has been the biggest issue,” Crouser said. “When I’ve tried new techniques it’s been dang if I could make this work in the ring this would be really cool. The ring is too small and with this one I remember with the first one thinking the ring felt really big on that.

“That was the biggest light bulb moment for me. Not so much how much can I generate power it’s what can I do to make the ring feel bigger that’s going to let me generate power.”

That power was there on his fourth throw.

At the Olympic Trials, Crouser knew he had broken the world record from the moment the shot left his hand.

Saturday, he said, “I didn’t know if was going to be 23.20 or 24 meters. I knew it was good.”

It was more than good. The shot landed at 23.56 meters-77-3 3/4.

He would close out the greatest series in shot put history with throws of 74-9 3/4 and 75-0. By the end of the day he owned the five longest marks in history.

“So I’m really excited it didn’t feel polished,” Crouser said. “Felt like I had a ton of power and i caught a big one but there’s still a lot more there which is really exciting. Because i haven’t been throwing hard in training. I’ve been like at 75 percent intensity working on some technical stuff and some of it stuck and some of it still needs improvement. So I’m really, really excited for this as a stepping stone.”

So what happens when Crouser’s technique is polished? If the latest world record is just a stepping stone what is it leading to?

We’ll see,” Crouser said. “This was the first time the step across has clicked for me in a meet and that was a big step.”

For 31 years the world record was stuck at just under 76 feet. Now in less than two years Crouser had not only broken the 76-foot barrier but cracked 77 feet as well.

“What’s the next barrier, the next challenge?” said Dwight Stones, the former high jump world record holder and now a broadcaster. “We have no idea how far he can throw. Can he throw 80 feet? I don’t know.”

“I think 23 high, for sure, is possible,” Crouser said. “I think 23.70 (77-9 3/4) in a conservative estimate. Twenty four (78-9) is humanly possible. It’s just at that point you’re playing with magic. Hoping to catch lightning in a bottle is the best way to put it. I think it’s possible but it’s a tough thing to put your thumb on it, really guarantee that it’s going to happen.”