- Canada’s Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg targeting his third global title in as many years
- Hungary’s Bence Halasz, seeking global gold after bronze and silver wins, tops 2025 world list
- Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan, USA’s Rudy Winkler and Germany’s Merlin Hummel also pushing for podium
At 23, Canada’s Ethan Katzberg is the caged tiger of men’s hammer throwing.
After his breakthrough victory at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, when he set a national record of 81.25m to beat Poland’s Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki to gold, he followed up with victory at the Paris 2024 Games.
Earlier in Olympic year, at altitude in Nairobi, he had set a North American record of 84.38m – the best throw seen since 2008, which moved him up into ninth place on the world all-time list. He came close to matching that at the Olympic Games, throwing 84.12m to win by more than four metres.
The Canadian heads to Tokyo with a season’s best best of 82.73m, set once again in Nairobi. He undoubtedly starts as one of the favourites, but several of his rivals have good reason to feel confident too.
No one currently looks more ominous than Hungary’s Bence Halasz. At the home World Championships in 2023, Halasz became the home hero, earning the host nation’s only medal – bronze – having been in the lead for the first half of the competition.
One year on in Paris he took another step up as he claimed silver behind the Canadian with an effort of 79.97m. And as the 28-year-old from Kiskunhalas seeks to maintain that upward trajectory, he does so with the world-leading throw to his credit; in Budapest last month he threw 83.18m, beating Katzberg for the first time in his career. He followed that up with an even more convincing victory over the Canadian, 81.77m to 79.30m, in Silesia.
Katzberg had already been passed on the world lists when USA’s Rudy Winkler, who finished eighth in Budapest and sixth in the Paris final, threw 83.16m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.
Ukraine’s 24-year-old Mykhaylo Kokhan announced his status as a major performer by taking the bronze medal in Paris and he will clearly be a medal contender. He is fifth on this year’s list with 81.66m, one place below France’s Yann Chaussinaud on 81.91m and one above Germany’s Merlin Hummel, just three months older than Katzberg, who has thrown 81.27m.
Katzberg’s Budapest win ended the run of five consecutive world titles achieved by Pawel Fajdek, who finished fourth. The 36-year-old Pole is once again in the frame ahead of his favourite competition as he stands seventh on the world list with 79.07m.
USA’s Daniel Haugh finished eighth at the 2022 World Championships and sixth at the 2023 edition. Fresh from winning the NACAC title, the 30-year-old will be keen to make his first global podium.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics