Rogers wins gold, sets Canadian record in hammer throw at world championships

Canada's Camryn Rogers reacts after an attempt in the women's hammer throw final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

TOKYO — Camryn Rogers set the tone early in the women’s hammer throw at the world athletics championships Monday with an impressive opening toss of 78.09 metres.

Good enough for a world title. Not good enough for Rogers.

The 26-year-old from Richmond, B.C., put the competition out of reach with her second throw of 80.51 metres to claim her second straight world championship gold medal in dominant fashion.

Rogers’s winning throw broke her own Canadian record and is the second longest ever behind the world record of 82.98 set by Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk in 2016.

Silver medallist Zhao Jie of China was well back of Rogers with a top throw of 77.60 metres. Another Chinese thrower, Zhang Jaile, was third at 77.10 metres.

Rogers now has two world championship gold medals to go with her Olympic title at the 2024 Paris Games.

It was Canada’s second gold at the world championships after Evan Dunfee finished first in the 35-kilometre race walk on Saturday.

In other results from Monday’s late session, Foster Malleck of Kitchener, Ont., finished 11th in his 1,500-metre semifinal. Malleck fell hard when he was caught up in a group of runners, but got back to his feet and finished the race.

Jean-Simon Desgagnés of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que., was in the mix early in the men’s steeplechase final but faded and finished 13th in eight minutes 39.96 seconds. He was added to the field after he was brought down when New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish tumbled over a barrier in the semifinals.

Beamish, who got up from the fall and still managed to qualify for the final with his time, won gold in 8:33.88 when he overtook the leaders down the stretch. Soufiane El Bakkali was second (8:33.95) and Edmund Serem of Kenya was third (8:34.56)

In the morning session, Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, B.C., qualified in top spot for Tuesday’s men’s hammer throw final with a throw of 81.85 metres on his first and only attempt.

“I did what I needed to do,” Katzberg said. The feelings were good. It was nice and technical and that’s what I was looking for today."

Like Rogers, Katzberg entered Tokyo as the reigning world and Olympic champion in his event.

Rowan Hamilton of Chilliwack, B.C., missed qualifying after finishing seventh in his heat with a throw of 75.38 metres.

In the lone medal event of the morning, Cam Levins of Black Creek, B.C., finished 12th in the men’s marathon with a season-best time of two hours 11 minutes seven seconds.

The 36-year-old Levins, who holds the North American men’s marathon record at 2:05.36 -- set at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon -- called the race a “really great bounce back” after running the 2024 Olympic marathon in Paris on a broken foot.

“I wasn’t able to make a hard move at the end, but I felt like I hung in there pretty well,” he said.

Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania won in 2:09:48 in a thrilling photo finish with Germany’s Amanal Petros. Italy’s Illiass Aouani was third in 2:09:53.

Justin Kent of Surrey, B.C., was 35th in 2:17:12, with fellow Canadian Ben Preisner of Oakville, Ont., finishing 20 seconds behind him in 36th.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2025.

The Canadian Press