Hammer Throwers Rudy Winkler and Daniel Haugh Seek To End 28-Year U.S. Olympic Medal Drought

It is a spectacular explosion of power and force, in which maximizing speed and velocity are critical.

With its origins linked to Scotland, the strong men of the hammer throw unleash a 16-pound metal ball attached to a four-foot piece of piano wire, rhythmically spinning their body and implement 360 degrees to generate the necessary centrifugal force. Timing is crucial.

Attempting to help the average person to assimilate, U.S. hammer thrower Rudy Winkler compares the satisfaction of a well-executed hammer toss to that of effortlessly driving a golf ball long and straight.

“When you hit a driver just right, it really feels like nothing, like you didn’t hit a ball at all – it’s a great comparison to hammer and something a lot of people can relate to,” Winkler says. “At the end of the day, the hammer is more of an art than a science.”

However, unlike in golf, Winkler notes that a top of the lungs exclamation upon release of the hammer, is practically mandatory, or par for the course.

“Of course, there is a correlation between great screams and distances – I say it kind of jokingly, but there really is,” Winkler says.

“If you watch me compete, you’ll see I always yell some version of ‘ah come on’, but the tone of the ‘come on’ is a very good indicator of how good the throw is going to be.

“If it’s a big scream and then a ‘Come On!’ you know it’s going to be a big throw, and if it’s like ‘ah, come on’ it’s going to be disappointing throw,” explains the burly 270-pound athlete, of the inexact science.

American hammer throwers once dominated the 124-year-old track and field event, winning gold medals at the first six editions of the Olympic Games, including 100 years ago in Paris. Fred Tootell threw the hammer nearly 175 feet for victory. 

Hal Connolly struck gold at the Olympic Games Melbourne 1956 and set seven world records over a nine-year span. However, the glory days of U.S. hammer throwing declined with the popular Massachusetts athlete, who competed at three additional Olympics, but never quite reached the same standard.

Winkler and his friendly rival Daniel Haugh hope to rekindle the magic at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and snap a 28-year U.S. medal drought. Lance Deal won silver at the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996, the last U.S. medalist in the event.

“I think the U.S. is in a much better position now to get medals than it’s ever been – it’s just a matter of doing it,” Winkler tells Team USA. “There is a lot of pressure in some regards, which can be tough to deal with, especially for some athletes.

“With the Americans getting better, the rest of the world is also getting better. While it is the best time in American hammer throwing, it is also probably the best time worldwide for hammer throwing. Winning medals is getting harder.”

Winkler hails from Albany, New York, and competed for Cornell University. Haugh was a 2019 NCAA Division I national champion while attending Kennesaw State and is from Marietta, Georgia.

Haugh outthrew Winkler at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field by a narrow two feet to earn a trip to his second Olympic Games. Winkler – the current American record holder at 82.71m/271 ft 4 ¼ in – finished second and will be headed to his third Olympics. 

Winkler and Haugh, both 29, possess extensive international experience and have heaved the hammer consistently at previous Olympics and world championships. Winkler was seventh, albeit with higher expectations, and Haugh 11th at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. 

Haugh’s best world championship result was 6th, accomplished last summer in Budapest. Winkler’s top world championship result was also 6th, achieved on home turf at Hayward Field in Eugene, in 2022.

“It’s a sport all about consistency and that’s what I’m producing the past few years – the more consistent that you are, the more likelihood for big performances and big marks,” says Winkler, who trains and is an assistant coach at the University of Maryland.

Haugh also believes that he is also on track toward achieving greater international results.

“For myself, it's about continuing to develop the technique so that when the opportunity comes, I am ready to turn up a technical pattern that will be competitive to win and if not, land among the top three,” says Haugh, whose career personal best is 80.18m/263 ft 1 in.

Haugh is ranked sixth in the men’s hammer throw world rankings, while Winkler is just behind him in seventh. The duo will bring a formidable 1-2 U.S. threat to the Olympic Games, unlike any time in recent memory. 

Winkler and Haugh discussed the composure and mindset necessary to ultimately uncork colossal tosses, when they step into the ring at the Stade de France on Aug. 4.

“I feel like I’m in a much better position now, then I was then (Tokyo 2020) to deal with the uncertainties and pressures that go along with making an Olympic final,” Winkler says. “It’s a very technical and mental sport, so many things have to come together to produce good throws.”

Haugh says: “It ultimately comes down to our preparation and making sure all of our ducks are in a row. To be at your very best on one day every four years is a difficult task, which is why only one man will win gold.”

If the veteran hammer throwers can execute and deliver as envisioned, they’ll put a joyous end to the U.S. Olympic slump. 

So could it be hammer-time, like never before, for the U.S. athletes in France? A medal haul no longer seems unfathomable; however, Poland’s defending Olympic gold medalist Wojciech Nowicki and five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek will be standing in the way.

Canadian Ethan Katzberg – the surprise 2023 world champion – is the number one ranked thrower and 2024 world leader with a herculean toss of 84.38m/276 ft 10 in, set in April. Canada has never medaled in an Olympic hammer throw competition.

What distance might it take for the highly motivated U.S. hammer throwers to bring home Olympic medals from the French capital?

“It’s hard to predict – every year I feel like it’s a surprise as to how far it takes,” Winkler says, about a winning throw. “To medal, it will take over 80 meters and I think it’s probably going to be the best final for a hammer throw ever.”