Payton Otterdahl always suspected hip trouble may find him. His brother, Trevor, had both of his hip labrums repaired, and it’s a hereditary condition.
Sure enough, in 2022 — fresh off his Olympic debut in 2021 — Payton started to feel “a lot” of pain in his hip when competing in the shot put. It was his worst season to date.
“So I knew it was either I was going to have to retire from throwing,” Otterdahl said, “or get surgery to get it corrected.”
Early retirement was never really an option.
“Oh, I didn’t think about it,” the 2014 Rosemount High School grad said. “I knew I still had goals.”
One of which can be achieved this week. Otterdahl qualified for his second Olympics last month at the U.S. Trials and is a medal contender in the shot put competition, which is scheduled to begin with the qualifying round Friday at 2:10 p.m. Central.
Nearly 23 months after surgery, Otterdahl’s climb back to the top is almost complete.
He had the procedure in September 2022, and couldn’t compete for the next seven months. That half year was dedicated entirely to rehab. Otterdahl never skipped an exercise prescribed by his physical therapist.
His days were flush with core work and the strengthening of his hamstrings, quads and everything surrounding that hip joint.
“I left the PT room just soaking wet with sweat every single day. It was hard work,” Otterdahl said. “I’ve done PT for a lot of other injuries and stuff, but the one recovering from the hip, you’re in a hole after surgery, and you’ve got to work hard to pull yourself out of it. So I was getting some serious workouts on the recovery.”
But the North Dakota State alum has built a living on hard work, generally with his training. He approached rehab with the same mindset. The end result was a successful recovery. As soon as he could return to activities, Otterdahl said he was training better than ever before.
“And I knew that this was definitely time well spent to get this fixed,” he said. “I’m kind of a glass half-full type of guy. So I didn’t really see it as a huge setback, especially when there was a problem that needed fixing. I just remember 2022 has been my worst year as a pro so far, and I remember how hard that was, so knowing that getting the surgery done was going to make me pain free and be able to, hopefully, train pain free was all the motivation I needed to get through it.”
He has felt no issues with his hip since returning to competition in 2023. He dubbed that season an “experimental” year. Because Otterdahl was essentially starting back from Square 1, which he viewed as a positive.
Retreating to the basics of the movement allowed him to build up his throw to his desired form and weed out many of his former bad habits.
“I’ve still got some that still need weeding out,” Otterdahl said, “but a lot of them were fixed.”
And with that came better (longer) throws, particularly as his hip continued to strengthen. That is still an ongoing process; doctors said the joint wouldn’t reach 100 percent until two years after the surgery. That landmark will come at the end of this season.
But he’s pain-free now and performing at a high level. Improved technique and a better understanding of his throwing motion led to better results. Better results led to more confidence, which has fed on itself in a snowball effect.
The 28-year-old enters the Paris Games as the No. 5-ranked men’s shot putter in the world, the exact position he finished in the World Championships a year ago. That’s a far different spot than the one he was in three years ago, when he was not everyone’s pick to even qualify for the Olympics.
It was an achievement for Otterdahl in Tokyo to get into the finals, where he finished 10th. This time, he noted, “everything has definitely been elevated.”
“I’m still not expected to medal, per se,” he said. “But I’m hoping to punch my way up a little bit.”
Pressure comes with expectations, but Otterdahl proved he can handle those at U.S. Olympic Trials. He noted he struggled for two-thirds of that competition, which only ramped up the need to perform.
And, sure enough, when the going got tough, Otterdahl delivered the throws necessary to finish top three in America’s insanely deep field. Otterdahl noted he had to peak at Trials. After that, it was back to accruing volume before building back up to another peak in France.
He knows all about this entire process in his second trip to the Olympics. He has prepared for the many call rooms, the process of prelims and the lack of warmup throws in competition.
And Otterdahl went to Paris ready to walk.
Yes, walk.
“After the prelims in 2021, my watch that tracks my steps had me at 28,000 steps that day,” Otterdahl said. “You have to walk pretty much everywhere in the village to get around, so you’re just accumulating (a) crazy (number of) steps. So going for walks has been one of those things that I’ve been doing to just get used to the high volume of steps.”
Anything to give himself an edge in his pursuit of his goals ahead of another “opportunity,” as he calls it, on the world’s grandest stage. One that he took the long road over the past three years to earn.
“I don’t really think too much about the negatives like, ‘What if you don’t perform?’ Or, ‘What if you fail?’ That’s not really my mindset,” Otterdahl said. “I’m kind of a glass half-full guy. I’m thinking about, ‘Oh man, what if I do get that medal?’ All the things that come with that has me excited. It’s an opportunity to shine, not an opportunity to fail, so I’m really excited to show what I’ve got.”
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