Hungarian athlete Bence Halász achieved a personal best and set a new meet record in front of his home crowd, outperforming Canadian Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg in a hot and humid competition in Budapest on Tuesday evening. Halász, who finished second to Katzberg at the Summer Games last year, secured victory with a best throw of 83.18 meters on his third attempt at the Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix.
His previous personal best was 81.94 meters, which he achieved at the Hungarian championships in Budapest on August 2. Halász also clinched the bronze medal when Katzberg won the world title in 2023. Katzberg, aiming to replicate his previous year’s success, led initially by throwing 80.31 meters on his first attempt and 81.01 on his third out of six attempts in Budapest, with temperatures soaring to 31 degrees Celsius.
The Canadian athlete’s best throw of 81.88 meters placed him in second position. This marked his farthest throw in five events since his season-best of 82.73 meters at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya. Katzberg, the top-ranked men’s hammer thrower globally, had won his first five competitions of the season before his streak was broken by American Rudy Winkler on July 5 at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meet in Eugene, Oregon, where Katzberg finished second.
Ukraine’s Mykhalo Kokhan, the Olympic bronze medalist in Paris, secured third place on Tuesday with a top throw of 80.84 meters at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet, also known as the Istvan Gyulai Memorial. Ten days before the Budapest event, Katzberg had triumphed over Jeremiah Nubbe at the Canadian championships in Ottawa.
Katzberg holds the Canadian record of 84.38 meters set on April 20, 2024, and the national championship record of 82.60 meters established on June 26, 2024. His victory at the Paris Olympics made him Canada’s first Olympic hammer throw champion and earned the country its first medal in the event since 1912.
In another event, Ben Flanagan from Kitchener, Ontario, announced his marathon debut at the Toronto Waterfront event on October 19. Flanagan, who considered debuting in other marathons but opted for Toronto to target a national title, expressed great excitement about the upcoming race.
Additionally, Olympic 100-meter champion Julien Alfred will miss three Diamond League meetings in August due to injury, according to event organizers. The 24-year-old athlete from Saint Lucia, ranked second in the world after clocking 10.75 seconds in the 100 meters this season, will not compete in Silesia, Poland, Lausanne, Switzerland, and Brussels due to her injury.
These recent developments showcase the competitive spirit and challenges faced by athletes in various track and field disciplines across different international tournaments.