Ethan Katzberg

Biography

Ethan Katzberg won gold in the men’s hammer throw in his Olympic debut at Paris 2024. On his first attempt in the final, Katzberg launched the hammer 84.12m, which stood up through six rounds for the victory. Katzberg became Canada’s first Olympic gold medallist in any throwing event in 120 years and Canada’s first Olympic hammer throw medallist in 112 years. At 22, he was the youngest ever Olympic champion in the men’s hammer throw. He went on to be selected as Team Canada’s co-Closing Ceremony flag bearer.

Katzberg’s Olympic Games-winning mark was just 26cm short of the national and area (North and Central America and Caribbean) record of 84.38m he had hit in April 2024 at a meet in Nairobi, Kenya. That was the longest throw in the world since 2008.

Katzberg made history at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. At 21 years old, he became the first Canadian to win a world title in hammer throw, a few days ahead of teammate Camryn Rogers’ victory in the women’s event. He was the youngest man to ever win a hammer throw world title, as well as the youngest world championship medallist ever in the men’s hammer throw. He won the gold medal with a then-Canadian record throw of 81.25. In the qualification round, he had become the first Canadian hammer thrower to surpass the 80-metre mark, hitting 81.18m. He closed out the 2023 season by winning gold at the Pan American Games in Santiago.

Throughout the 2023 season, Katzberg improved on his personal best by close to five metres. He entered the year with a personal best of 76.36m, which he had recorded while winning silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. In early May 2023, he threw 78.41 m at the Dylan Armstrong Track Classic in Kamloops, a competition named for his coach and Olympic bronze medallist shot putter. Katzberg won his first national title in July 2023 when he threw 78.73m. He had been the runner-up in 2022 and 2021. He retained the national title in 2024.

Though hammer throw is not an official Diamond League discipline, Katzberg competed in two promotional meets in 2023, winning gold in Paris and bronze in Oslo, both times throwing 77.93m. A few weeks after his Olympic victory, he won another promotional Diamond League meet in Silesia in late August 2024.

Katzberg’s first major international meet was the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships where he was a finalist after placing second in his qualification group.