Call him the Harbour City Hammer.
Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, a bit of an unknown curiosity when he won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games last summer in Birmingham, England, proved he is the real deal by winning the 2023 world championship in the hammer throw Sunday in Budapest, Hungary.
The 21-year-old Islander became the second-youngest athlete to win world championship or Olympic gold in the hammer and set himself up as the thrower to beat in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I’m quite young for the sport but I’m feeling good. It feels amazing. With it being my first world championships, I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I came in with a good mentality,” said Katzberg, in his post-competition media scrum.
Katzberg is the youngest member of the Canadian team at the World Athletics Championships.
“It was an amazing competition with amazing athletes. They are veterans of the sport and know what they are doing. To compete with them at the highest level is an amazing thing,” said the John Barsby Secondary graduate.
Katzberg’s throw of 81.25 metres was the Canadian record and bested the second-place 81.02 metres tossed by 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki of Poland. Bence Halász of Hungary took the bronze medal at 80.82.
“I knew it was going to be good. I didn’t know it was going to be 81.25. Obviously, I’m very excited that it was. It felt good leaving my hands,” said Katzberg, a product of the Nanaimo Track and Field Club.
“I know there was going to be some great competition here. I knew I had to give it my all. My coach Dylan Armstrong told me to go for it out of the gate. I was able to get a personal best and that boosted my confidence and become a world champion.
It was the first time Katzberg, who began in the sport because his older sister threw hammer at John Barsby, had thrown over 80 metres.
“My sister was a hammer thrower in high school. I fell into it that way and my dad coached me until Dylan Armstrong took me under his wing,” he said
Asked what has been the key to his breakthrough rise, Katzberg said: “Listening to my coach. He’s got a lot of knowledge and has helped me out tremendously. I’ve been at it seven years. It’s a long time coming. It’s a very technical sport.”
Six-foot-six but lean, Katzberg cuts quite a figure in another way with his distinctive mustache and flowing long hair.
“It’s just the look I’m going for, I guess,” he said.
It could become quite familiar on stadium fields around the world.
Adam Keenan of Victoria placed 11th in the hammer Sunday at the worlds with a throw of 74.49 metres.
“I thought I was off to a great start. I didn’t quite get the building and momentum that I quite wanted. But I put it all on the line and that’s all I can ask of myself,” said the Lambrick Park Secondary graduate.
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