A Preview of Coming Attractions
by Mark Cullen
Canada’s Camryn Rogers won the World hammer throw title on Monday with a lifetime best and Canadian national record of 80.51m (264-1).
Canada’s Ethan Katzberg won the World hammer throw title on Tuesday with a lifetime
best and Canadian national record of 84.70m (277-11).
In a sport known to reward longevity, Rogers at 26 now has won two World golds and one silver, and the ’24 Olympic gold medal to boot.
In a sport known to reward longevity, Katzberg at 23 now has won two World golds and the ’24 Olympic gold medal to boot.
At the end of two days of hammerin’ history, Rogers found herself to be the #2 women’s performer all-time, with Katzberg #5 among men.
The youth movement was not restricted to the very top.
China’s dynamic duo of Zie Zhao (22) and Zhiale Zhang (18) won silver and bronze with throws of 77.60 and 77.10, respectively. Zhang is the current world junior champion and Zhao won bronze at the Paris Olympics.
There were two key moments in the competition itself. The first was Rogers’ historic barrier breaking 80.51 in the second round. While the air didn’t exactly go out of the competition, she did win by almost 3 meters.
The medalists had separated themselves from the field in the first round. When it came to ascending the podium, only the color of the medals was yet to be determined, not who would wear them.
Zhang and Zhou provided much of the remaining excitement when Zhao pipped Zhang for silver in the last round. Still, bronze in the hammer at age 18? It’s all in a memorable night’s work for Zhang.
Finland’s Silja Kosonen was 4th at 75.28m, while 2019 champion DeAnna Price (US) was close behind in 5th at 75.10m. Price said that, over the course of the next year, she is ready to return to the form that made her one of only four women over 80m in history.
2022 World champion Brooke Anderson (US) fouled all three trials and did not advance to the final.
An exuberant Rogers couldn’t contain her excitement about what had just taken place in the hammer ring, not only for herself but for the entire field – and the entire sport.
She stood in the ring looking at where her momentous throw had landed and said to herself, “It actually might be kind of far!”
World Champion Camryn Rogers
photo by Mark Cullen
And when the number popped up, “I immediately got hugged by all the women out there. I love every single thrower in the sport,” she said, “because we all support each other. We all celebrate each other’s wins.”
As for the future of this sport, Rogers said, “We’re just getting started!”
In the men’s final, the youth movement continued as Germany’s Marlen Hummel (23) led Katzberg (23) after the first round by 11cm.
That lead did not last for long.
Katzberg unleashed his remarkable 84.70 in the second round and proceeded to record one of the most memorable series in history: 82.66/85.70/82.01/81.86/83.07/83.73.
In order to play this evening, you had to be over the benchmark 80m, and there were 4 throwers and 15 throws over this standard.
Hummel won silver with his first round 82.77, while Hungary’s Bence Halasz (28) won bronze with his third-round 82.69.
Mirroring how the women’s contest played out with three throwers vying for the medals, in retrospect we knew early which four throwers would determine the three medals among the men
Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan threw 82.02 in the fifth round to win… 4th place?!
And American Rudy Winkler had his best major meet result ever in 5th with 78.52.
“It’s never happened in my career to have that level of competition,” said Katzberg.
In regards to the new international schedule which features Worlds as a true culminating event – and finishing upwards of five weeks later than before - Katzberg said, “I just had to slow down spring training just to make sure this was my best form today. I think that it’s a great way to do things… it’s been an incredible world championships so far."
When Rogers and Katzberg entered the ring, there was palpable excitement in the stadium. The crowd’s roar trailed the flight of the steel ball, followed by an eruption of cheering and applause.
In women’s hammer, the locus has switched from Central Europe to Canada, China, and the United States, and the youth movement we saw in Tokyo the last two nights is indeed a preview of coming attractions.
All is not lost for Central Europe on the men’s side as they still held 6 of the 12 finalist positions. But Central Europe occupied only 2 of 12 places in the women’s final.
One of those was held by Poland’s legendary three-time Olympic champion and world record holder, Anita Wlodarczyk, in 6th place now, at age 40.
Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg share a coach, Canadian Olympic shot put bronze and World silver and bronze medalist, Dylan Armstrong, who earlier in his career had modest results in the hammer before deciding to focus on the shot.
When it comes to heritage, who was Armstrong’s coach? None other than Ukraine’s Anatoliy Bondarchuk, himself 1972 Olympic hammer champion and widely regarded as one of the finest hammer coaches in history.
With gold medals for both the men and women, the locus of hammer throwing is now the National Throws Centre in Kamloops, British Columbia, where Dylan Armstrong trained under Bondarchuk. Every spring, Kamloops hosts the Dylan Armstrong Track Classic.
Meanwhile, US thrower Trey Knight finished a memorable breakout season by finishing 10th in the world in this championship.
As to how old he is… nah, it couldn’t be. Is he really?
Yes, he, too, is 23.
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