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Olympic champion hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg won his fourth consecutive national title in dominant fashion on Saturday at the Canadian track and field championships in Ottawa.
The six-foot-seven force from Nanaimo, B.C., surpassed the 80-metre mark on four of his six throws, launching his final attempt 81.13m for his best toss of the day at the Terry Fox Athletic Facility.
Katzberg’s opening throw of 78.80m was ultimately enough to secure the win, as runner-up Rowan Hamilton of Chilliwack, B.C., only managed a mark of 75.45m with his top throw.
Katzberg, who is also a two-time reigning world champion, will next compete at this summer’s Commonwealth Games, running from July 23 to Aug. 2 in Glasgow.
Canadian hammer throw champion Ethan Katzberg has dominated for the last four years.
It started at the Commonwealth Games with a silver medal in 2022.
Now he’s going back to the Commonwealth Games looking for gold. Our conversation here in Ottawa pic.twitter.com/rkoNjEkq90
Arop qualifies for 1,500m final
In other results, 800-metre specialist Marco Arop qualified for Sunday’s final in the 1,500m after surging from near the back of the pack to finish fourth in his semifinal heat with a time of three minutes 47.92 seconds.
The 27-year-old from Edmonton elected to make his senior debut in the distance instead of vying for his fifth straight 800m national title.
Jude Wheeler-Dee of Kingston, Ont., clocked 3:47.00 for the fastest overall time, finishing just 0.14 seconds ahead of Toronto’s Max Davies in the first heat.
Kitchener, Ont.’s Foster Malleck (3:47.71) posted the fastest time of the second heat.
The top five finishers from each of the two heats advanced along with the next two best times.
Pierce LePage, the 2023 decathlon world champion, finished 10th in the men’s senior long jump, which was won by Montrealer Guilhem Hermet with a mark of 7.41m.
Scarborough, Ont., native Abdullahi Hassan won the senior men’s 800m final for his first Canadian title at the senior level in six attempts, clocking 1:46.75.
Julia Tunks of London, Ont., won the senior women’s discus event with a throw of 57.97m, beating second-place finisher Rachel Andres by 4.87m.
Savannah Sutherland was a last-minute scratch from the women’s 400m hurdles final earlier in the day.
On Friday, Andre De Grasse and Audrey Leduc claimed the 100m titles, Christopher Morales Williams and Lauren Gale captured the 400m titles, and Sarah Mitton claimed her sixth straight Canadian women’s shot put title.
Olympic gold medallist Camryn Rogers won her fifth straight national title in the women’s hammer throw on Thursday.
