Ethan Katzberg, of Canada, makes an attempt in the Men's hammer throw final during the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 20.Bernat Armangue/The Associated Press
Canadian 21-year-old Ethan Katzberg took a stunning World Championship hammer gold on Sunday with a massive national record throw of 81.25 metres in the fifth round.
Katzberg had smashed his personal best by more than two metres in qualifying and looked as if he could not believe he had triumphed in the final.
Poland’s Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki took silver with 81.02, with Hungary’s Bence Halasz a crowd-pleasing bronze in 80.82.
Pole Pawel Fajdek, seeking a sixth successive world title to match the record of pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, finished fourth.
For a while it looked as if Halasz, the 2019 bronze medalist, would win an emotional first-ever world gold for the host country on Hungary’s National Day.
He was leading at the halfway point after a massive personal best of 80.82, only for Nowicki to edge past him by a centimetre.
The Pole then hit the front with 81.02, only for Katzberg to find the second-longest throw of the year in the fifth round, which proved enough for gold.