FROM THE GET-GO, Canada’s Ethan Katzberg made it clear that everyone else was fighting for silver. He boomed his first throw out to 276-0 (84.12) and it was over. No one else would top 80m, although Hungary’s Bence Halász came close at 262-4 (79.97).
“Our plan was to get a good one out in the first round,” said Katzberg, who didn’t hit his surprise winner at last year’s World Champs until round 5. “For it to be 84m felt really good. Definitely released some of the nerves.”
Still, Katzberg wasn’t resting easy. Gold may have seemed inevitable to everyone else, but he said, “I didn’t want to assume and so I wanted to stay focused in the competition. I still tried to go for it, and get a little more out.”
Thus, Katzberg put an exclamation point on his dominance by landing a legal 269-11 (82.28) in round 3. In the fifth frame, he hit the 80-meter tape, and intentionally fouled it. Then he dropped his sixth throw around 82 or 83, falling out of the ring and coming up laughing.
In another bright moment for Ukraine on the night Yaroslava Mahuchikh won high jump gold, Mykhaylo Kokhan took bronze at 260-5 (79.39). American Rudy Winkler placed 8th at 255-8 (77.92).
The 22-year-old Katzberg is now the youngest man to ever be a world and Olympic hammer champion. He is Canada’s first gold-medal thrower since Étienne Desmarteau won the 56lb weight at St. Louis 1904.
Katzberg said his father is “coach No. 1. He learned everything he could about the hammer throw to coach my sister and I, and honestly, his development side of things was really incredible for just a dad kind of wanting to help his kid.”
Said current coach Dylan Armstrong, shot bronze medalist for Canada in ’08, “I told Ethan, he’s in the best shape of his life, so he knows that he can throw that far. I told him to try and take control right away, so that everyone maybe tense[s] up a little bit. I think they did. He’s very disciplined. He’s regimented and just follows everything I say. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of these experiences where I can pass it along to him and so he can excel.”
Halász, twice a bronze medalist at World Championships (’19 & ’23), was happy to trade up to silver. “I knew I could do it,” he said. “And today is my [27th] birthday, so I made it a very special one. I just hope that I made every Hungarian proud at home… Maybe, we will drink a few. And maybe we will also invite others later in the evening.”
“These medals are very important for Ukraine,” said Kokhan, whose bronze represented a podium step up from 4th in Tokyo. “Because our people finally have happy time, they can cheer us, and they can celebrate this with us — not to think about the war for one day.”
MEN’S HAMMER RESULTS
FINAL (August 02)
(temperature 73F/23C; humidity 47%)
1. Ethan Katzberg (Can) 276-0 (84.12)
(276-0, f, 269-11, f, f, f) (84.12, f, 82.28, f, f, f);
2. Bence Halász (Hun) 262-4 (79.97)
(254-6, 258-8, 262-4, 262-3, 254-9, 261-10) (77.58, 78.84, 79.97, 79.94, 77.66, 79.82);
3. Mykhaylo Kokhan (Ukr) 260-5 (79.39)
(257-8, 260-5, f, 256-5, 251-1, 260-0) (78.54, 79.39, f, 78.17, 76.53, 79.24);
4. Eivind Henriksen (Nor) 259-9 (79.18)
(250-10, 259-9, f, f, 249-8, f) (76.45, 79.18, f, f, 76.11, f);
5. Paweł Fajdek (Pol) 258-6 (78.80)
(255-11, 253-4, 257-9, 258-6, f, 251-5) (78.01, 77.22, 78.57, 78.80, f, 76.64);
6. Rudy Winkler (US) 255-8 (77.92)
(255-8, f, f, f, 235-11, f) (77.92, f, f, f, 71.90, f);
7. Wojciech Nowicki (Pol) 254-0 (77.42)
(254-0, 253-6, 251-9, 252-8, f, 249-1) (77.42, 77.28, 76.75, 77.03, f, 75.92);
8. Yann Chaussinand (Fra) 253-10 (77.38)
(f, f, 253-10, 253-1, f, f) (f, f, 77.38, 77.15, f, f);
9. Rowan Hamilton (Can) 251-3 (76.59)
(251-3, f, f) (76.59, f, f);
10. Merlin Hummel (Ger) 249-5 (76.03)
(245-7, 249-5, f) (74.85, 76.03, f);
11. Thomas Mardal (Nor) 243-7 (74.25)
(243-7, 241-9, f) (74.25, 73.68, f);
12. Hrístos Frantzeskákis (Gre) 240-7 (73.34)
(f, 240-7, f) (f, 73.34, f).
| * = progression of the leading throw; ¶ = athlete’s best of the day | |||
| first 3 rounds | |||
| Nowicki | 77.42*¶ | 77.28 | 76.75 |
| Chaussinand | f | f | 77.38¶ |
| Kokhan | 78.54* | 79.39¶ | f |
| Henriksen | 76.45 | 79.18¶ | f |
| Halász | 77.58 | 78.84 | 79.97¶ |
| Hamilton | 76.59¶ | f | f |
| Fajdek | 78.01 | 77.22 | 78.57 |
| Winkler | 77.92¶ | f | f |
| Katzberg | 84.12*¶ | f | 82.28 |
| Mardal | 74.25¶ | 73.68 | f |
| Hummel | 74.85 | 76.03¶ | f |
| Frantzeskákis | f | 73.34¶ | f |
| last 3 rounds | |||
| Chaussinand | 77.15 | f | f |
| Nowicki | 77.03 | f | 75.92 |
| Winkler | f | 71.90 | f |
| Fajdek | 78.80¶ | f | 76.64 |
| Henriksen | f | 76.11 | f |
| Kokhan | 78.17 | 76.53 | 79.24 |
| Halász | 79.94 | 77.66 | 79.82 |
| Katzberg | f | f | f |
QUALIFYING (August 02; auto-qualifier 252-7/77.00)
Qualifiers: Katzberg 262-3 (79.93), Hamilton 255-2 (77.78) PR, Kokhan 254-0 (77.42), Winkler 253-7 (77.29), Henriksen 253-1 (77.14), Halász 252-3 (76.90), Chaussinand 252-2 (76.86), Mardal 251-11 (76.78), Fajdek 251-2 (76.56), Nowicki 250-5 (76.32), Frantzeskákis 247-9 (75.53), Hummel 246-10 (75.25);
Non-qualifiers: Adam Keenan (Can) 244-3 (74.45), Denzel Comenentia (Neth) 243-9 (74.31), Ragnar Carlsson (Swe) 242-8 (73.96), Volodymyr Myslyvčuk (CzR) 242-3 (73.84), Matija Gregurić (Cro) 241-9 (73.69), Serghei Marghiev (Mol) 241-0 (73.46), Qi Wang (Chn) 237-11 (72.52), Gabriel Enrique Kehr (Chl) 237-3 (72.31), Dániel Rába (Hun) 237-2 (72.29), Diego Del Real (Mex) & Joaquín Gómez (Arg) 236-6 (72.10), Humberto Mansilla (Chl) 235-8 (71.83), Donát Varga (Hun) 235-1 (71.65), Jerome Vega (PR) 234-11 (71.61), Özkan Baltacı (Tur) 234-3 (71.40), Sören Klose (Ger) 233-7 (71.20), Mihaíl Anastasákis (Gre) 230-1 (70.14), Mostafa Hicham Elgamel (Egy) 229-11 (70.09), Patrik Hájek (CzR) 225-9 (68.80);… 3f—Daniel Haugh (US).
