A jaw-dropping, golden Olympic debut for Ethan Katzberg
Standing tall and with a warm smile, Ethan Katzberg rang the victory bell at the Stade de France with the Canadian flag draped over his shoulders after striking gold in the men’s hammer throw.
On his first throw of the final, the 22-year-old unleashed a missile that soared to a mark of 84.12m. Out of a field of 12, the 2023 World Champion was the only thrower to surpass the 80-metre mark in the Paris 2024 hammer throw final.
“Our plan was to get a good one out in the first round. For it to be 84 metres, felt really good. Definitely released some of the nerves. And then kind of after that, I still tried to go for it, and, you know, get it, get a little more out. But unfortunately, I just couldn’t, couldn’t go on tactically, but the first 84 metres felt really good,” said Katzberg.
The ninth best hammer thrower in history, Katzberg was a picture of calm concentration when he entered the stadium to the applause of over 70,000 fans. After his momentous win, reporters in the mixed zone interviewed the clearly delighted Olympic champion. They asked about his thoughts following his phenomenal first throw,
“I didn’t want to assume and so I wanted to stay focused in the competition. And, you know, keep trying to improve my mark. Anything could happen in the Olympics, but fortunately, it was enough to seal the deal.”
Absolutely on fire on the cool Paris night, even his second throw went farther than anything the second place finisher, Bence Halasz of Hungary, could put out. He won silver with a best effort of 79.97m.
With a personal best throw of 84.38m achieved in April — the longest throw in the world since 2008 — when Katzberg was asked about chasing the world record of 86.74m, he replied that he knows there’s still work to be done.
“I don’t know what it feels like to throw 86 metres, you know. I’ve got to keep training. I’ve got to keep, you know, keeping my head down and focusing on the on the improvement.”
Katzberg shared that his father is the foundation to his athletic success.
“He was coach number one. He learned everything he could about the hammer throw to coach my sister and I, and, you know, honestly, his development side of things was really incredible for just, you know, a dad kind of wanting to help his kid.”
Katzberg’s current coach, Dylan Armstrong, who won bronze for Canada at Beijing 2008 in shot put, celebrated with his gold medal prodigy.
“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, you know, maybe tense up a little bit. I think they did,” Armstrong said, before elaborating on his pupil. “[…] he’s very disciplined. He’s regimented, and he just, he just follows everything I say, you know, and I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of these experiences where I can pass it along to him and so he can excel.”
The first-time Olympian won by the largest margin — 4.15m — in men’s hammer throw since Antwerp 1920. His coach hopes his remarkable win will bring more Canadian youth into the throwing side of track and field.
“My hope is that it inspires young kids to come out and try to give this event a try and throws overall in Canada,” said Armstrong.
Katzberg’s is Canada’s first gold medallist in any throwing event since Etienne Desmarteau won the 56lb weight throw at St. Louis 1904.