Ottawa – Turning back the clock, few would see it coming. When Ethan Katzberg steps into the throwing circle at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he will do so not only as one of Canada’s first men’s hammer throw Olympians since James Steacy at London 2012 but as a relative youngster amid a tremendous rise in his event.
At 22 years old, he’s heading to Paris as a medal favourite, just eight years after starting in the sport. It wasn’t until after he finished high school in Nanaimo, B.C. when he moved to Kamloops to train with Olympic shot put medallist Dylan Armstrong, that things became more serious.
Throughout the last two years, he’s broken out on the international hammer throw scene, and his resumé has quickly become among the best. He’s the reigning world champion, which he boasts, along with a gold medal from the 2023 Pan Am Games and a silver medal from the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Even with the success, there’s a special, quiet confidence in Katzberg. While his size at 6-foot-6 and 236 pounds can perhaps be menacing at first glance, his flowing mullet, vintage moustache, and gentle attitude encapsulate his determined yet calm approach to sport.
In some ways, his relaxed nature is reflected in his throwing.
After all, in the hectic schedule leading up to his first Olympic Games, he relocated to the vacation paradise that is the Algarve region of Portugal. Famed for its white sand beaches and tropical temperatures, it offered him and Armstrong a relaxing refuge for training compared to the cold Canadian winter. They weren’t on vacation, though. Paris prep. Qualify. Throw longer and farther and get stronger—all with eyes on August 2 and 4 when he throws for gold at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris.
“I’m not fighting with my muscles to throw the hammer,” Katzberg told Olympic.ca at the Bell Track & Field Trials at the end of June. “I’m not trying to use my muscles to rip the hammer as hard as I can. I’m just trying to let things go smoothly, in fluid motion, and just let things happen the way they need to.”
Source: https://olympic.ca/