Nanaimo's own Ethan Katzberg celebrates after winning gold in the men's hammer throw event at the 2024 Summer Olympics on Sunday, Aug. 4. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

By Jordan Davidson

gold medal

Nanaimo’s Ethan Katzberg wins gold medal in hammer throw at Paris Olympics

Aug 4, 2024 | 12:45 PM

PARIS, FRANCE — Nanaimo is now home to an active Olympic gold medal winner.

Ethan Katzberg outthrew his opponents in the medal round of the men’s hammer throw on Sunday, Aug. 4 with a distance of 84.12 metres, making him the youngest gold medalist in the event’s history.

At only 22, the former John Barsby Secondary School student threw his gold medal-winning hammer on his very first attempt.

The silver medal went to Bence Halasz of Hungary with a throw of 79.97 metres, while Mykhaylo Kokhan of Ukraine took home the bronze medal with a 79.39 metre throw.

Each competitor was allowed six throws in the medal round with the top eight moving to the final round of three throws.

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Katzberg fouled out on his next few throws, but his first toss was enough to take home the top prize, with an average swing velocity between 120-125 kilometres per hour.

He’s the first Canadian to win gold in the event with the only other medals coming from the 1908 London games (bronze to Con Walsh) and 1912 in Stockholm (Duncan Gillis)

Fellow Canadian and Richmond native Rowan Hamilton’s best throw of 76.59 was good enough for ninth place.

Ethan Katzberg, victorious at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Tyler Heisterman/Nanaimo Track and Field Club)

Katzberg posted the top hammer throw result in the Olympic qualifying round on Friday, Aug 2. with a distance of 79.93 metres.

Katzberg’s personal best throw of 84.38 metres is tops in this current season and the only result over 84 metres or more thrown by any of the athletes in the competition.

The world record for the hammer throw is 86.74 metres set back in 1986 by Russian Yuriy Sedykh and the Olympic record dates back to 1988 with a distance of 84.80 metres thrown by fellow Russian Sergey Litvinov.

At the 2023 world championships in Budapest Katzberg took home the title with a then Canadian record distance of 81.25 metres.

In June, Katzberg set a championship record at the Canadian Olympic trials in Montreal with an 82.60 metre toss.

His last two seasons have been impressive with wins in six of 12 competitions in 2023 while never placing lower than third in any of his events.

Katzberg was also a silver medalist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The other Nanaimo athlete waiting to compete in her event is 21-year-old race walker Olivia Lundman, whose race is on Tuesday, Aug. 6 starting at 10:30 p.m. Nanaimo time.

She’ll be joined by race partner and coach Evan Dunfee of Richmond.

A complete list of Olympic event dates and times is available on the Paris 2024 website.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow