World Champs Men’s Hammer — Katzberg A Dark Horse No More

Ethan Katzberg lofted his longest throw 58cm (just short of 2ft) farther than his Olympic winner and showcased amazing consistency. (TAKASHI ITO/AGENCE SHOT)

WHEN HE WON his first Worlds gold in Budapest, Ethan Katzberg surprised almost everybody. We only had him No. 6 on our premeet formchart. Those days of relative anonymity are long past for the Canadian. He is now the dominant force in the hammer and his crushing performance here put the exclamation mark on that.

Hungary’s Bence Halász, the Paris silver medalist, opened with an impressive 267-5 (81.51). Katzberg, the next thrower, responded with a 271-2 (82.66). The last in the round, Merlin Hummel of Germany, managed a lifetime best 271-6 (82.77) to take the lead.

Katzberg, master of the overwhelming response, stepped up three throwers later, rotated quickly and released the hammer to soar past all the lines. His implement landed at a championship (and Canadian) record of 277-11 (84.70) to make him the No. 5 thrower in history.

In round 3, Halász improved to 271-3 (82.69), his No. 2 throw ever. Katzberg lobbed one nearly as far, 269-0 (82.01). American Rudy Winkler, after two fouls, finally got off a fair throw at 257-7 (78.52) to move into 4th.

Ten throwers moved on to round 4, with the order switched up. An unplanned 20-minute delay occurred when a hammer got hung up in the netting. When the throwing started again, Halász hit 265-3 (80.85), Hummel 269-6 (82.14) and Katzberg 268-7 (81.86). For round 5 it was 8 throwers, and Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan, the Olympic bronze medalist, produced a PR 269-1 (82.02) for the best-ever 4th-place mark. Katzberg closed the round with another fine throw, 272-6 (83.07).

That led to a go-for-broke final stanza for the top 6. Winkler managed his second fair throw of the day, 254-1 (77.44). Kokhan, Halász and Hummel all swung big and fouled. Katzberg celebrated his second Worlds win with another big one, 274-8 (83.73).

The victor, still just 23, averaged 272-4 (83.01) for his 6-throw series, farther than any of his pursuers managed for a single effort.

“I knew it was going to be a very strong field,” he said. “I didn’t think four people were going to throw over 82. To have that level of competition at a major final, that’s what I want. And that’s what motivates me. To be able to come out on top of that battle is really incredible.“

Joining with Camryn Rogers for another Canadian sweep of hammer golds was another motivator: “Yesterday she put the pressure on me. She had an unbelievable performance yesterday.”

MEN’S HAMMER RESULTS

FINAL (September 15)

1. Ethan Katzberg (Can) 277-11 (84.70) NR (WL) (5, x W)

(271-2, 277-11, 269-0, 268-7, 272-6, 274-8) (82.66, 84.70, 82.01, 81.86, 83.07, 83.73);

2. Merlin Hummel (Ger) 271-6 (82.77) PR

(271-6, 264-9, f, 269-6, f, f) (82.77, 80.71, f, 82.14, f, f);

3. Bence Halász (Hun) 271-3 (82.69)

(267-5, 262-6, 271-3, 265-3, 265-1, f) (81.51, 80.03, 82.69, 80.85, 80.80, f);

4. Mykhaylo Kokhan (Ukr) 269-1 (82.02) PR

(f, f, 257-1, 260-10, 269-1, f) (f, f, 78.36, 79.51, 82.02, f);

5. Rudy Winkler (US) 257-7 (78.52)

(f, f, 257-7, f, f, 254-1) (f, f, 78.52, f, f, 77.44);

6. Thomas Mardal (Nor) 256-0 (78.02)

(253-0, 254-11, 256-0, f, 252-0, 249-1) (77.11, 77.70, 78.02, f, 76.83, 75.92);

7. Paweł Fajdek (Pol) 255-1 (77.75)

(f, 251-7, f, 255-1, 251-5) (f, 76.69, f, 77.75, 76.63);

8. Ármin Szabados (Hun) 253-1 (77.15)

(248-2, 248-4, 250-0, 253-1, f) (75.65, 75.69, 76.21, 77.15, f);

9. Eivind Henriksen (Nor) 250-10 (76.47)

(250-6, f, 250-10, f) (76.36, f, 76.47, f);

10. Trey Knight (US) 249-8 (76.11)

(223-11, 249-8, 244-10, f) (68.24, 76.11, 74.63, f);

11. Dániel Rába (Hun) 246-9 (75.22)

(242-1, f, 246-9) (73.79, f, 75.22);

12. Denzel Comenentia (Neth) 245-7 (74.86)

(f, f, 245-7) (f, f, 74.86).

QUALIFYING (September 14; auto-qualifier 251-0/76.50)

Qualifiers: Katzberg 268-6 (81.85), Fajdek 258-5 (78.78), Hummel 257-8 (78.54), Halász 257-3 (78.42), Henriksen 254-11 (77.70), Winkler 254-1 (77.46), Mardal 253-9 (77.34), Kokhan 253-8 (77.33), Szabados 253-3 (77.20), Knight 250-8 (76.40), Rába 250-0 (76.21), Comenentia 249-0 (75.91);

Non-Qualifiers: Volodymyr Myslyvčuk (CzR) 248-4 (75.69), Yann Chaussinand (Fra) 247-7 (75.46), Hrístos Frantzeskákis (Gre) 247-5 (75.43), Rowan Hamilton (Can) 247-4 (75.38), Daniel Haugh (US) 245-7 (74.87), Matija Gregurić (Cro) 244-11 (74.66), Ronald A. Mencia (Cub) 243-3 (74.14), Konstadínos Záltos (Gre) 242-8 (73.96), Henri Liipola (Fin) 242-2 (73.82), Gabriel Enrique Kehr (Chl) 241-5 (73.59), Humberto Mansilla (Chl) 240-7 (73.34), Jerome Vega (PR) 239-11 (73.12), Jake Norris (GB) 239-8 (73.07), Shota Fukuda (Jpn) 238-6 (72.71), Joaquín Gómez (Arg) 238-5 (72.68), Patrik Hájek (CzR) 238-3 (72.63), Ragnar Carlsson (Swe) 237-10 (72.51), Mostafa Hicham Elgamel (Egy) 236-4 (72.03), Halil Yılmazer (Tur) 235-3 (71.71), Giorgio Olivieri (Ita) 234-3 (71.41), Qi Wang (Chn) 232-10 (70.96), Ággelos Mantzouránis (Gre) 232-9 (70.94), Özkan Baltacı (Tur) 227-6 (69.34), Marcin Wrotyński (Pol) 227-5 (69.33).

Jeff Hollobaugh is a writer and stat geek who has been associated with T&FN in various capacities since 1987. He is the author of How To Race The Mile. He lives in Michigan where he can often be found announcing track meets in bad weather.

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