Wojciech Nowicki and Paweł Fajdek did not have certain eliminations. Nowicki almost to the end was trembling about whether he would make it to the Olympic final. He complained that he could not get a good feel for either the wheel or the hammer. The final competition was supposed to be much better.
The Poles watched the backs of the leaders
The competition was opened by our Olympic champion from Tokyo. He started with a throw of 77.42 m, which was quite a good test to get a feel for the conditions. However, Yann Chaussinand from France (78.99, this result was crossed out after the time), Mychajło Kochan from Ukraine (78.54), Bence Halasz from Hungary (77.58), Rudy Winkler from the USA (77.92) recorded a better opening than the Pole.
Paweł Fajdek also had a better first attempt, which was certainly encouraging for him. He exceeded the 78-meter limit by one centimeter.
But out of everyone's reach was Canadian Ethan Katzberg, who has emerged as a hammer throwing dominator for years. In his first attempt, he threw 84.12, over 5.5 meters ahead of the second competitor.
In the second series, Nowicki and Fajdek did not improve, while Kochan and the Norwegian Elvind Henriksen threw further, exceeding 79 meters. Halasz, who was noting progress, was close to them, throwing 78.84 in his second attempt. Winkler and Chaussinand blew their throws. Katzberg threw very far again, but did not improve (82.28).
The third series was marked by a significant improvement by Halasz, who was close to exceeding 80 meters. He threw 79.97 m. Nowicki had the worst throw in the competition, below 77 meters. Fajdek did better. He gave a signal that he would want to fight for a medal, throwing 78.52. Kochan, Henriksen, Katzberg and Winkler blew their attempts.
After three attempts, we had two Poles in the narrow final. The field was reduced from 12 competitors to eight. Katzber seemed unthreatened, as did Halasz in second place. Both white-and-red competitors had to reach the heights of their abilities if they wanted to count in the medal fight.
Fajdek took a small step forward, Nowicki stayed where he was.
The fourth round was another minimal improvement for Fajdek. He threw 78.80, but still remained in fifth place. Nowicki was constantly throwing around 77 meters. Halasz was again hunting for a throw above 80 meters, he was a few centimeters short.
The fifth series was simply awful. Fajdek, Nowicki, Chaussinand and Katzberg all blew their shots. Henriksen, Winkler and Kochan had their worst attempts, and for Halasz it was the second worst round.
In the last throw, they had to take a risk and go all out. Unfortunately, the Polish team did not manage to do this. Nowicki had the worst round (75.92) and did not defend his Olympic gold medal from Tokyo. Disappointment was immediately visible on his face after the throw. He finished the competition in seventh place with a score of 77.42.
For Fajdek it was also the worst series. He threw only 76.64 and finished the competition in fifth place.
The Olympic champion was Katzberg, who secured the gold medal with a cosmic throw in the first round. Silver went to Halasz and bronze to Kochan. All pre-Olympic predictions that indicated at least one Pole on the Olympic podium did not come true.