Canada’s Ethan Katzberg won the gold medal in the men’s hammer throw at the Paris Olympics on Sunday with a dominating performance.
Katzberg, from Nanaimo, B.C., opened with an Olympic record throw of 84.12 metres and was not seriously challenged through the rest of the competition to win Canada’s first gold medal in the event.
“As the training leading up to this has kept growing, I knew I was capable of something like 84.00m,” Katzberg told CBC Sports. “To go out and do it in the first round, you can’t beat that feeling.”
The reigning world champion also had the second-best throw at 82.28 metres. No other competitor hit the 80-metre mark.
Bence Halasz of Hungary took silver at 79.97 metres and Mykhaylo Kokhan threw 79.39 metres to earn bronze. Canada’s Rowan Hamilton (76.59) finished ninth.
Canada’s last Olympic hammer throw medal came 112 years ago, when Duncan Gillis claimed silver in Stockholm 1912.
More to come.