Career
Katzberg started throwing hammer at the age of 14 after watching his father coach his sister in the event, thinking it looked fun. [7] He initially trained at the Nanaimo Track and Field Club. [8] Following high school he moved to Kamloops to be trained by new coach Dylan Armstrong, a former Olympic shot put medallist. [7] Armstrong said of the new talent then that he was "a skinny basketball player when I got him. What really stuck out, obviously, was his height and his speed. That’s a rare combination. It’s hard to find a fast, tall, co-ordinated guy that may have some interest in throwing — they all go to basketball, football or other sports." [7]
Making his major international tournament debut at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships, Katzberg qualified to the hammer throw final but finished last with no valid throws. He won a silver medal in the hammer throw event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. [9]
Katzberg enjoyed early success on the international competitive circuit in 2023, notably winning gold when the Diamond League held a promotional mixed-gender hammer throw event at the 2023 Meeting de Paris. [10] He won his first Canadian national title months later. Competing in his first world championships in Budapest at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Katzberg qualified for the finals with the best throw and a national record of 81.18 m (266 ft 4 in). He threw an 81.25 m (266 ft 6+3⁄4 in) on his fifth throw, setting another new national record and winning the gold medal and world title. [11] Katzberg's victory made him both the youngest ever men's hammer throw medallist and world champion, and the first Canadian man to win a medal in the event. His victory ended the reign of five-time world champion Paweł Fajdek, who finished fourth, while he also defeated Wojciech Nowicki, the reigning Olympic champion. [12] [11] Katzberg was part of a Canadian sweep of the hammer events in Budapest, along with Camryn Rogers' victory in the women's event. [13] [14]
Following the World Championships, Katzberg concluded the year as part of the Canadian team for the 2023 Pan American Games, where he won the gold medal. His winning distance of 80.96 m set a new Games record. [15]
To start his 2024 season, Katzberg threw 84.38 m on April 20 at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, a new Canadian and NACAC area record the longest hammer throw by anyone since 2008, moving him to ninth on the all-time list. [16] [17] Named to his first Canadian Olympic team, Katzberg entered the hammer throw event as the title favourite, and finished first in the qualification round. With his opening throw of the final he managed a distance of 84.12 metres, just shy of the Olympic record of 84.80 metres. [18] [19] He was the only competitor in the event to throw above 80 metres, and took the gold medal by a 4.15-metre margin over Hungarian silver medalist Bence Halász. [20] This was the first hammer throw medal for a Canadian since Duncan Gillis' silver in 1912, and the first gold medal for a Canadian in a throwing event since Étienne Desmarteau won the now-discontinued weight throw in 1904. [18] With Rogers' subsequently claiming victory in the women's event, Canada swept the hammer throw at a second major championship. [21] Shortly after his victory, Katzberg traveled to attend a training camp in Slovakia, but returned to Paris a few days later upon being named Canada's co-flagbearer at the closing ceremony, alongside triple gold medalist swimmer Summer McIntosh. [22] At the end of the year, Katzberg received the Lionel Conacher Award as The Canadian Press' choice for the nation's top male athlete of 2024. [23]
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