Katzberg Wins First Gold Medal For Canada At 2023 World Athletics

Summary

• Ethan Katzberg won first place in the hammer throw at the WAC
• This was the first gold medal for Team Canada at the competition 
• Katzberg created a new Canadian record on his 5^th attempt with a throw of 81.25 metres

The 2023 World Athletics Championships started on 19 Aug in Budapest, Hungary and will run till 27 Aug. This competition is put together by World Athletics and takes place every two years and is considered to be the pinnacle of sporting events together with the Olympics.

Team Canada Register First Gold Medal

It did not take long for Team Canada to win their first gold medal and it came via a surprise event. Ethan Katzberg who competed in the hammer throw did Canada proud by winning gold and creating a new Canadian record in the hammer throw.

The 21 year old ended up creating a new record for Canada in his 5^th attempt by registering a throw of 81.25 metres on Aug 20. Katzberg who hails out of B.C.,Nanaimo ended up breaking his own record of 81.18 metres which he set during the qualifiers on Aug 19.

Katzberg ended up beating some tough competition which included Poland’s Paweł Fajdek who is a 5 time champion in this event. Wojciech Nowicki from Poland ended up winning silver after registering 81.02 metres.

Katzberg Credits Coach For His Success 

Katzberg has been pretty dominant in 2023 in the hammer throw, winning 6 out of the 12 competitions he has taken part in. He has finished within the top 3 in all of these events and had a lot of momentum on his side coming into the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Katzberg credited his coach Dylan Armstrong for how well he has performed and said Armstrong wasn’t just his coach but also his mentor. Armstrong represented Canada in the 2008 Olympics and won bronze in the shot-put event.

In a statement, Katzberg said

It feels amazing. With it being my first world championships I didn’t know exactly what to expect but I came in with a good mentality. My coach Dylan Armstrong told me to just go for it out of the gate and I was really happy with my 80-metre throw to start. I think that boosted my confidence. I was able to get a personal best, national record and become a world champion.