Germany’s Merlin Hummel and Hungary’s Bence Halász took silver and bronze in the men’s hammer final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo behind Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg of Canada.
Hummel, who has been using AI technology to support his improvement this year, opened with digital precision, landing a superb personal best of 82.77m to take the lead after the first round.
The 23-year-old who won European U23 silver in 2023 sent shockwaves through the field, having only broken through as an 80 metres thrower this year.
But Katzberg responded in round two with a championships record of 84.70m. Hummel, fourth in last year’s Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and tenth at the Paris Olympics, threatened again with a fourth-round throw of 82.14m, but ultimately settled for his first major senior medal.
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Halasz, who won Olympic silver last year also produced a brilliant series of throws with five throws beyond 80 metres, the best being a third round 82.69m to clinch bronze. It was his third World Athletics Championships bronze following Doha 2019 and Budapest 2023.
Ukraine's Mykhaylo Kokhan was fourth despite a new personal best of 82.92m.
"I did my best"
"I feel a bit neutral to be honest because I've put all my emotions out there, and I'm also a bit tired," said Hummel after a lifetime best competition.
"I'm feeling great, though. I think the competitions I had in my early life were good for me. I learned a lot from each of them, especially from the bad ones. It's pretty important for safety, for great consistency and for big competitions. I went into this final with the mindset that Ethan Katzberg is going to throw very far. But I did my best and focused all on myself and that worked out."
"Competition of the century"
"Tonight we have the competition of the century in our event with so many throws over 82 metres," said Halasz.
"It's incredible. I think nobody could predict something like that. I'm proud what I achieved and dissappointed at the same time. Hungary has never had a world championships winner in the men's hummer throw. My compatriots are hungry for these gold medals.
"I know that many people says that it's impossible to beat Ethan Katzberg at the moment. I cannot agree. I know what I was capable on. I know what kind of result I have been preparing for, not only in last two weeks but all through the year. I completely changed my training system.
"The basics remain the same but we changed the quality and quantity. We changed my gym training. I also tried to reform my body and lost 10kg of fat. I can do jumps and sprints much better."