MIAMI - Two-time Olympic gold medallist Ryan Crouser set a shot put world record of 23.38 metres at the Simplot Games in Idaho on Saturday.

The throw, at the indoor meet, beat his previous mark of 23.37m, set outdoors, and also his world indoor best of 22.82m.

The record throw comes a year after Crouser, gold medallist at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, had an identical distance annulled.

He thought he had broken the record last January at the Millrose Games, but a faulty laser measurement device meant that the competition was cancelled.

Crouser, who won at the World Championships in Eugene in 2022, set his indoor mark of 22.82m in January 2021 at Fayetteville, Arkansas, and his outdoor record of 23.37m in June that year at Eugene, Oregon.

Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aleia Hobbs ran the second-fastest time ever to capture the women’s 60m title in 6.94 seconds at the United States Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The 26-year-old from New Orleans, a member of the 2022 world outdoor US 4x100m championship relay team, set an American record to steal the spotlight.

“Unbelievable. It has been a long time coming,” a tearful Hobbs said. “I’m just so thankful.”

She fell short of the world indoor record of 6.92sec set by Russia’s Irina Privalova at Madrid in 1993.

But she was 0.01sec under the old US mark set by Gail Devers at Toronto in 1993.

“I knew for me to get the record, I had to get out of the blocks,” Hobbs said. “In the prelim, my block start wasn’t all that good, so I knew I needed to just get out and finish like I usually do.”

Two-time reigning 200m world champion Noah Lyles, who took Olympic bronze at Tokyo, pulled out of the men’s 60m final with a left hip injury.

Lyles, who won the Boston Indoor Grand Prix two weeks ago in a personal best of 6.51sec, won his semi-final heat in 6.56sec but then felt trouble.

“After the semi, I went to go put my clothes on and I realised it was really hard to get up. I started realising my hip flexor was tight,” he said.

“We tried to work on it extensively. We took about 30 minutes just working it out, trying to do some exercises, but it never fully went away.

“I’m not willing to take a chance with it with such a great outdoor season possibly on the horizon.”

The meet gave Americans a prime chance to prepare for August’s World Championships in Budapest and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“Outdoor season is going to be lit,” Hobbs said. “That’s all I’m going to say. It’s going to be lit.”

Lyles said he was being cautious after seeing all he needed in his Boston triumph.

“After Boston, I saw all I really needed to see in the indoor season,” he said.

“Getting that down to 6.51, that was really the crescendo of the area I needed to be to be turning into a 9.6, 9.7 guy.

“As the season goes on, I’ll get faster and we’ll make everything progress as normal. But I can’t do that if I’m injured.” AFP