Hungary's Halász avenges Olympic hammer throw loss to Katzberg, beating Canadian on home soil

CBC

3 days ago

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Hungarian hammer thrower Bence Halász delivered a personal best and meet record before a home crowd to beat Ethan Katzberg, the reigning Canadian Olympic champion, on a hot and humid Tuesday evening in Budapest.
Halász, who was second to Katzberg at the Summer Games last August, topped his opponent on the third attempt at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix and never looked back, finishing with a best throw of 83.18 metres.
His previous PB of 81.94 was set Aug. 2 at the Hungarian championships in Budapest.
Katzberg was seeking a repeat of last year's victory when he threw 81.87 and held the early advantage Tuesday by throwing 80.31 on his first try and 81.01 on his third of six attempts in Budapest, where the temperature reached 31 C.
The Nanaimo, B.C., native's best of 81.88 came two throws later and placed him second. It was his furthest in five events since his 82.73 season best to win at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya.
Katzberg, the world's top-ranked men's hammer thrower, won his first five competitions this season but American Rudy Winkler snapped the streak on July 5 at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League track and field meet in Eugene, Ore., where the Canadian was second.
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Ukraine's Mykhalo Kokhan, the Olympic bronze medallist in Paris, was third on Tuesday with an 80.84 top throw at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet also referred to as the Istvan Gyulai Memorial.
Ten days ago, Katzberg was victorious over Jeremiah Nubbe at the Canadian championships in Ottawa.
Katzberg set the Canadian record of 84.38 on April 20, 2024, and the national championship record of 82.60 on June 26, 2024.
At the Paris Olympics, he became Canada's first Olympic hammer throw champion and earned the country's first medal in the event since 1912.
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At 22, he was the youngest-ever Summer Games hammer gold medallist. His winning throw of 84.12 was 26 centimetres short of the national and area (North and Central America and Caribbean) mark of 84.38.
A year earlier, Katzberg was the first Canadian to win a world title in hammer throw, a few days ahead of teammate Camryn Rogers's victory in the women's event in Budapest.
2nd Canadian hurdles title in 3 years
Tuesday's meet was supposed to be a tune-up for Canadian hurdler Savannah Sutherland ahead of her scheduled Diamond League debut on Friday in Silesia, Poland, but she didn't take the line for the women's 400-metre event.
The 22-year-old from Borden, Sask., was coming off her second national title win in three years.
Sutherland, who attends the University of Michigan, ran a Canadian-record 52.46 seconds to victory at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships on June 14. It is not only a meet record but an NCAA and Big Ten mark and ninth-fastest time ever recorded in the event.
On July 13, she ran 50.62 in the 400 flat race in Edmonton to automatically qualify for the Sept. 13-21 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Sutherland announced she signed a pro contract with Adidas two days earlier.
Around the same time, Sutherland was named one of three women's finalists for The Bowerman, awarded annually to the most outstanding athletes in U.S. collegiate track and field. The winner will be announced Dec. 18 at the United States Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association convention in Grapevine, Texas.
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Current in battle for athletics worlds berth
Meanwhile, Kate Current of Cobourg, Ont., is battling for one of potentially three qualifying spots on the Canadian team for worlds in the women's 1,500. She picked up crucial world rankings points on Tuesday by running a 4:02.79 PB to place 13th of 15 finishers.
Fifty-six athletes will be selected for the women's 1,500 at the world championships. Gabriela DeBues-Stafford is the lone Canadian woman to run the automatic entry standard. She occupies the 32nd qualifying spot, followed by Simone Plourde (34) and Lucia Stafford (36), while Current is firmly in the mix after Tuesday's performance. The qualifying window closes Aug. 24.
Athletics Canada is allowed to select a maximum of three athletes per gender in each event.
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Flanagan to make marathon debut in T.O.
Also Tuesday, it was announced that Ben Flanagan of Kitchener, Ont., will debut in the marathon on Oct. 19 at the sold-out Toronto Waterfront event.
He also considered debuting in New York, Chicago or the California International Marathon but wanted to target a national title.
"Super excited about racing Toronto. [My decision] mostly had to do with racing at home. And [Toronto] lined up well with my personal goals for the marathon debut," Flanagan told CBC Sports.
Flanagan hasn't raced since placing seventh in the New York City Half Marathon on March 16. His daughter Nora was born shortly after, and then Flanagan had hoped to enter an extended block of marathon training.
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The 30-year-old was unable to defend his Ottawa 10K title in May due to a hip/quad flare up that was later diagnosed as a partially torn labrum in his left hip joint.
Flanagan is back running close to his full volume of training but will not compete at the Falmouth Road Race in Massachusetts, near his home in Cape Cod.
He won the men's elite 11.3 km race in his 2022 debut and was seventh last year.
"Unfortunately, I'm not in competitive form, and the main priority is being ready for Toronto," he said. "I'm aiming for about 120 km this week and building from there."
Julien Alfred to miss Diamond League sprints
Olympic 100-metres champion Julien Alfred will miss three Diamond League meetings in August due to injury, event organizers said on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old from Saint Lucia won't race Friday in Silesia, Poland, Lausanne, Switzerland (Aug. 20) and Brussels (Aug. 22). She was slated to run the 100 in Silesia and 200 in Lausanne.
Alfred has clocked 10.75 seconds in the 100 this season and is ranked second in the world. She last competed at the London Diamond League where she won the 200 in a personal-best 21.71 seconds.
Alfred has won four races from her five Diamond League appearances in 2025 and secured qualification for the 100m at the final in Zurich, which runs from August 27-28.
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