Ethan Katzberg, of Nanaimo, B.C., celebrates after winning gold in the men's hammer throw event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

By Alex Rawnsley

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NANAIMO — A pair of local athletes who won Gold at the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, have continued their world-beating performances.

Ethan Katzberg, a Nanaimo-born hammer thrower now living in Kamloops, won his fifth straight event in the world athletics circuit on Wednesday, June 11, at a competition in Oslo, Norway.

The Bislett Games, part of the Diamond League track and field events held worldwide, saw the 23-year-old Katzberg send his third of six attempts to a distance of 80.19 metres, making him the only athlete to break 80 metres on the day.

His win comes less than two weeks after another gold medal at a similar event in Nairobi, Kenya, where he threw a season-best 82.73 metres.

Katzberg shot to international stardom with a dominant gold medal performance in Paris in August 2024, where he threw his first attempt 84.12 metres and was again the only competitor to break 80 metres.

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He became the youngest gold medallist in the event’s history and the first Canadian to medal in men’s hammer throw in over a century.

Closer to home, Parksville Nicholas Bennett set a new high-water mark in the pool.

Competing at the Canadian Swimming Trials ongoing in Saanich, Bennett broke his own Canadian record in the S-14 100 metre butterfly on Tuesday, June 10, with a time of 57.50 seconds.

He was just under a second faster than the second place swimmer, with the most of the rest of the field a further six to eight seconds back.

The time is roughly two and a half seconds slower than the world record in the event, set in 2022.

Bennett won two gold and a silver in Paris by capturing the 200 metre individual medley and 100 metre breaststroke events, while finishing runner up in the 200 metre freestyle.

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