Ethan Katzberg became the youngest man ever to become a world and Olympic hammer champion, blowing the competition apart at the Paris 2024 Games with an opening throw of 84.12m that stood up as the best of the night.

The 22-year-old Canadian added the Olympic gold medal to the world title he won in Budapest last year, while Hungary’s Bence Halasz took silver and Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan claimed bronze.

Rather fittingly, defending champion Wojciech Nowicki got proceedings under way, kicking off the final with 77.42m. Home thrower Yann Chaussinand was next up and the Frenchman sent his hammer out to 78.99m, which briefly put him in the lead until it was ruled to be a foul several moments later.

Kokhan’s opening effort of 78.54m was then promoted to the leading mark, but it didn’t last long. Katzberg, ninth in the throwing order, opened his account with a stunning 84.12m effort, the second-best throw in Olympic history and the second-best throw of the Canadian’s career after the 84.38m PB he set at altitude in Nairobi earlier this year.

More significantly, it was farther than any other finalist had ever thrown in their life. It meant that if anyone wanted to wrestle gold away from Katzberg’s grasp, they’d have to perform as they never had done before. Spoiler alert: no one did.