Similar mastery was displayed in the men’s triple jump final as Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo earned gold with 17.98m, the best mark of 2021, but the expected dominance of world champion Grant Holloway in the 110 metres hurdles failed to occur as he took silver behind Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment.

Crouser’s final effort was just seven centimetres shy of the world record he set at the US Olympic Team trials, when he eclipsed the mark of 23.12m set in 1990 by his fellow countryman Randy Barnes.

It was a measure of Crouser’s superiority that five of his six throws - the exception being 22.54m - were better than anything the rest of the field could reach, with his compatriot Joe Kovacs, who beat him to the 2019 world title by a centimetre in an epic final, taking silver with 22.65m.

New Zealand’s 2017 world champion Thomas Walsh, another top performer, claimed bronze on 22.47m.

Crouser had made it clear from the start that he was hellbent on retaining his title as he sent out an Olympic record of 22.83m, which he followed up with 22.93m, just in case anyone was in any doubt.

It was the first time in Olympic history that six men had registered efforts over 21.00m, with Brazil’s Darlan Romani taking fourth place on 21.88m.

The final medal order replicated the result in Rio 2016 - an Olympic first in any event, according to the statisticians.

"My mindset was really good going in, practice went really well, so today it was a lot about heat management," Crouser said. 

"We knew it would be a long comp[etition] and we knew it would be hot. 

"The key was getting a big one (throw) early. 

"I managed to do that. 

"I had solidified the win by the end so I got a little more aggressive and chased that bigger throw and finally connected with it."

Like Crouser, Pichardo laid down a big and ultimately unanswerable first round marker, registering 17.61m, which would have been enough for gold even if he had not improved upon it.

But after replicating that effort in the second round, the man who took 2013 and 2015 World Championships silver for Cuba made sure of his first global title with his third-round effort.

China’s Yaming Zhu claimed a surprise silver with a fifth-round personal best of 17.57m, with Burkina Faso’s Hugues Fabrice Zango, who set a world indoor record of 18.07m earlier this year, claiming bronze with a third-round jump of 17.47m that also delivered him from the potential ignominy of failing to make the cut for the three final rounds.

Will Claye of the United States, silver medallist at the last two Olympics behind his compatriot Christian Taylor, sadly absent here because of an Achilles tendon injury, had to settle for fourth place with 17.44m.

"It was always one of my dreams to win the Olympic gold," Pichardo, who defected from Cuba to Portugal in April 2017, said.

"This is what I have been doing [triple jump] since I was six-years-old. 

"I feel a huge sense of happiness and I still have plenty of dreams ahead of me."

Holloway, who bettered Colin Jackson’s 1994 world indoor record of 7.30sec by running 7.29 this year, and who missed the world record of 12.80 by just 0.01 seconds at the US Olympic Team trials, did not run badly in his final.

But, despite doing nothing wrong, the 23-year-old from Chesapeake in Virginia, could not find enough zip to hold off the even more powerful figure of Parchment on the run-in.

Parchment won in 13.04, with Holloway taking silver in 13.09 and Jamaica’s Ronald Levy joining his compatriot on the podium in a time of 13.10.

Devon Allen of the United States was fourth in 13.12.

Speaking of the pre-race favourite, Parchment commented: "There was no intimidation. 

"He is a great competitor.

"I knew that he would have taken the lead, he always takes the lead. 

"I don't know how he gets to the first hurdle so fast. 

"I know that once I am close to the first three hurdles, I would be able to catch him close to the line and I did just that."

Holloway, meanwhile, reflected: "I just think the nerves, the big atmosphere got the best of me a little bit.

"But I’m young, I’ve got a lot of races under my belt so I’ll take this with a grain of salt and I keep moving forward.

"This was not the outcome that I wanted but it enables me to say I’m an Olympic medallist.

"It just sucks a little bit more because that was my first loss of the season - I gave everything I got.

"Hansle ran a great race, I did not. 

"So my hat goes off to him."