CP Male Athlete of the Year Katzberg talks taking his place among Canadian legends

The Canadian record holder and reigning world champion is in Phoenix, Arizona, preparing for the 2025 season.

Katzberg spoke to Marty Hastings of CFJC Today on Monday (Dec. 30):

MH: Did you get any time over the holiday to enjoy yourself and family or have you just been training?

EK: It’s pretty much been full-on training, but we took Christmas day off and enjoyed some time down here just to take it easy and relax, but it’s definitely full-on and back in the swing of things now.

MH: Who’s down there with you?

EK: I’ve got my girlfriend here. My parents went to Mexico for the winter. And we’ve got [coach] Dylan Armstong and our training group.

MH: How did you hear the news about the award and what was your reaction to it?

EK: I got informed I think the week before it was announced. We were going through this interview and having this conversation about the Canadian Press Athlete of the Year Award and the interviewer asked, ‘How does it feel to beat out these two other athletes?’ and it was Connor McDavid and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and I was like, ‘I thought this was a track-and-field-specific award.’ I feel like a total fool. But I did not realize it was across Canada and across sports. To realize that and that I was in the top three, let alone winning the award, it was incredibly special.

MH: Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Steve Nash, Andre De Grasse, Damian Warner, when you put your name in that group, what’s it like to be a part of that?

EK: I don’t feel like I’m there yet. You say Sidney Crosby or Steve Nash to just about anybody in Canada and they know who you’re talking about. We’re working our way to get there, but there’s definitely some work to do. But to be in the conversation with gentlemen like that is pretty incredible.

MH: How much exposure does this bring to your sport?

EK: Hammer throw is starting develop in Canada, I hope, and I think it is. Thankfully, for Camryn and I, we’re building a bit of a foundation for hammer throw in Canada and I think it’s something we haven’t seen ever before in our country’s history, so to continue to develop that and get kids talking about it and kids involved in hammer throw or track and field is really important.

MH: I see you’ve got the Adidas shirt on today, rocking it proudly. What is your list of sponsors now?

EK: Adidas, a hammer equipment company out of Japan called Nishi, I have a private sponsor that helps with travel and accommodation and stuff like that and there’s stuff in the works leading into the new year I’m going to keep pursuing. Hopefully, in the next conversation, I can add a couple more names to the list and go from there.

MH: Is there anything neat that people don’t know about that’s coming down the pike next year?

EK: I hope to shine a bit more light on what I’m actually doing in training and outside of that in recovery and nutrition. I’ve been pretty closed off on some of those doors, but people want to see a little bit more behind the curtain of what I’m doing. I do think that it’s interesting and I haven’t really brought that to social media or interviews. Make it a little more personal maybe.

MH: And I suppose find the right balance with that stuff. I know you cut a lot of media out before the Olympics. You’re becoming famous, but you also still have these major goals in front of you.

EK: Totally. Before the Olympics is an exceptional time. I think I stopped taking interviews in April. I was totally shut off from the real world. But now, it’s like, OK, I’ve done the Olympics. What did it look like to get there? What do I do that got me there? Within reason, obviously. You don’t want to be a social media influencer. You’re an athlete at the end of the day. Whatever I feel comfortable doing that doesn’t give me a headache is what I’m going to do. You can be consumed by the phone if you’re not careful.

MH: Is that going to be through your Instagram account mostly?

EK: Yeah, that’s the one I keep up on the most. I don’t think I have anything else actually. I think there is some fake accounts on Facebook and TikTok. They’re pretty harmless, though. It’s fine by me.

MH: As far as your goals for the sport in 2025, I’ve asked you before about the world record and Yuriy Sedykh, but do you have anything in mind for what you want to do next year?

EK: I’d love to give you the same answer I gave last time, but I won’t. We don’t talk too much about numbers. We just continue to keep progressing. Next year, it’s a little bit of a different look. I have an automatic bye into the world championships. The world championship from 2023 in Budapest, winning that gave me an automatic bye into Tokyo [2025 World Athletics Championships]. We don’t really have to run around and chase the world-ranking points. We can be a bit more selective, so maybe we can just prepare a little bit more for Tokyo instead of doing a whole bunch of competitions. I’m sure I’ll still compete lots, but it takes that pressure off my back for this year. All I have to really focus on is throwing the hammer as far as I can.

MH: Do you select those events based on prize money, prestige or simply just what works with your schedule and body?

EK: All of the above, for sure. It’s good to have a competition schedule to get the feeling of competing with the top-level athletes. Going into a major without competing against your competition, it might not feel normalized or comfortable enough if you don’t do that.

MH: What’s your first big competition of the year?

EK: I don’t know yet. Still kind of playing it by ear. It will definitely be in Europe, but as far as the meet or country, I don’t know.

by Marty Hastings

CP Male Athlete of the Year Katzberg talks taking his place among Canadian legends

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