It’s hard to believe that Ethan Katzberg never really planned to throw a hammer.
The reigning world and Olympic champion preferred basketball, and had the height and the speed to excel in the sport.
Whenever the teenager participated in track and field at school, the Canadian enjoyed tossing the heavy ball, which was attached to a wooden handle with a wire, the same hammer that his sister threw with such grace.
Fast-forward.
10 years later, he is no longer a rookie but the ninth best hammer thrower in history.
His gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games was secured by his first throw of 84.12m in the final, which marked the first hammer title for his nation in over a century.
A huge victory that further reinforced Katzberg’s grit.
“It was such an incredible experience and being able to see the plan fully go through and perform when I needed to and just get the job done, it was really great,” he tells Olympics.com in a recent interview.
“I knew that I could produce a result at the right time. I just needed to execute some technical cues and get as focused as I could in the Olympic stadium.”
In a few weeks, he will return to the global stage, testing himself against the elite hammer throwers as he seeks to defend his world title in Tokyo. The 23-year-old, who has so far won six of his eight events this season, speaks with assurance, keen to replicate his World Championships and Olympic Games achievements.
“I’m very excited to have those experiences behind me with the Budapest World Championships and the Olympics going into a World championship. I’ve never really had that.”