Ethan Katzberg, of Nanaimo, who lives and trains in Kamloops, celebrates after winning gold in the men's hammer throw event at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
August 06, 2024 - 6:00 PM
A member of the Kamloops Track and Field Club, Ethan Katzberg, made a record-breaking hammer throw of 84.12 metres at the Paris Olympic Games on Sunday, Aug. 4, leaving his opponents in the dust and earning him the first gold medal a Canadian has won in the event for over a century.
Katzberg’s coach, Dylan Armstrong, is a long-time Kamloops resident and former Olympic bronze medal winner in shot put. He also coached Kamloops athlete Greg Stewart to an Paralympic gold medal win.
Katzberg and his coach are currently travelling in Europe to various competitions, but Armstrong’s mother and president of the track and field club, Judy Armstrong, is still in Paris after watching his stunning performance.
“It was absolutely amazing,” she said of Katzberg’s gold medal throw. “Dylan’s plan was for Ethan to go hard at it right away and execute the biggest throw he could in the first round to set the stage, and the plan worked.”
Out of 12 competitors in the hammer throw final, Katzberg was the only one to clear 80 metres. He also had the second best throw at 82.28 metres. Hungary's Bence Halasz won silver with 79.97 and Ukraine's Mykhaylo Kokhan won bronze with 79.39.
Judy said hammer throw has historically been an older person’s event, and people at the Olympics were asking her, “where's this kid coming from, where's Kamloops?”
She said Katzberg has been representing his country well on the world stage.
“He’s such a good guy, he is super kind and very friendly,” she said. “People here have been calling him the Friendly Canadian.”
Armstrong has been working with Katzberg since the young athlete graduated high school in Nanaimo and moved up to the Tournament Capital to train after being coached for years by his dad.
“Dylan was looking for an athlete he could produce that was fast and fit, and good at hammer throw, an event he loves,” Judy said. “He found Ethan going around to schools in BC. Ethan had the perfect body for it, he was fast and tall and just need to gain a little weight and muscle.”
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In 2022, Katzberg won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, and in 2023 he won gold medals at the 2023 Pan American championships and the 2023 World Championships.
He's the youngest Olympic hammer throw gold medalist.
Judy is planning a celebration at the track club upon Dylan and Katzberg’s return.
“It was super busy after the win, he had lots of people who’d come to watch him and we all got together to celebrate but it wasn’t for long, everyone was tired and the next he had all these interviews.”
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Not to be outdone, Camryn Rogers, 25 of Richmond won an Olympic gold medal today, Aug. 6, in the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 76.97 metres. Annette Echikunwoke of the United States grabbed silver (75.48) and Zhao Jie of China took bronze (74.27).
At the Tokyo games in 2021, Rogers became the first Canadian woman to ever advance into an Olympic hammer throw final. She went on to finish fifth.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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