Much of Missouri has been eagerly awaiting the men’s shot put competition because The Show-Me State’s very own Christian Cantwell would be competing. Early this afternoon, the Missouri native finally got his chance to shine. Cantwell was one of 12 athletes vying for the Olympic gold. He entered the finals after placing 5th  in the qualifying rounds and needed a strong performance to push him to the top of the podium.

Entering the Olympics, things looked bright for Cantwell who had a promising summer.  In July, he hurled a shot more than 73 feet, 2 inches, making it the longest in the world this year. Unfortunately, Cantwell was unable to channel his inner Hulk today and ended the shot put finals with a distance of 21.19 meters (approximately 69 ft 6 inches, which put him just behind his American teammate Reese Hoffa, who captured the bronze with a distance of 21.23 meters.

This must be devastating for the Missourian, who returned home from Beijing with a silver medal in 2008. The good news (if you can call it that) is Cantwell will have four years to polish his performance before the next Summer Games.