Canada may be able to add hammer throw to sports it can dominate in the Olympics after Camryn Rogers won gold while also becoming the country’s first-ever medalist in the women’s event.
Rogers was seen as a favourite going into the event and threw 76.97 metres, her farthest, on her fourth attempt. No one else surpassed that number, clinching the gold, with Nneka Annette Echikunwoke of the U.S. and China’s Jie Zhao joining her on the podium.
It wasn’t her only big throw at the Games either, throwing the second-farthest distance in the qualification round at 74.69 metres.
It was the Richmond, B.C. native’s second Olympics, having become the first Canadian woman to advance to the final for the women’s hammer throw, finishing fifth in the event.
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Rogers is the top-ranked hammer thrower in the world and entered the Games having won silver at the 2022 world championships and gold at last year’s worlds. She is the first and only Canadian woman to medal at worlds in the hammer throw.
It’s also the first gold medal a Canadian woman has also taken home in athletics at an Olympic Games since the “Matchless Six,” Canada’s first Olympic women’s team who competed and medalled in the 1928 Games.
With Rogers’ win, Canada also took over the top spots at the podium in both the men’s and women’s hammer throw, just two days after fellow British Columbian Ethan Katzberg took home gold in the men’s event — the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the event since 1912.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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