Did Canada’s Ethan Katzberg win the Olympic gold medal in men’s hammer throw on his first attempt?
It’s certainly possible after the reigning world champion fell just short of an Olympic record with a throw of 84.12 metres on Sunday at Paris 2024.
The Olympic record is 84.80 metres by Russia’s Sergey Litvinov in 1988.
Each finalist gets six attempts.
Katzberg led qualifying Saturday with a throw of 79.93 metres.
Katzberg’s Sunday effort was just shy of his world season best of 84.38 metres set in Kenya in April.
The world record is 86.74 metres by Yuriy Sedykh of Russia in 1986.
The 22-year-old Katzberg, from Nanaimo, B.C., also won gold at last year’s Pan American Games and silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
