Katrine Koch Jacobsen set out her intentions for 2026 with an impressive season opener to set a world lead of 75.52m at the Nicosia 2026 European Throwing Cup, but her journey hasn’t been linear.
The 26-year-old had been a multi-event athlete until 2020 when COVID-19 hit and stopped the world. She had competed across the hurdles, long jump, sprints, 800m and even high jump.
But in 2019, she competed in the hammer for the first time in a registered competition. And it changed her life.
The following year she won the Danish National Championships with 60.97m, a title she has continued to win every year since.
75 metre breakthrough
Within just a few years she had won a silver medal at the Tallinn 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships, and was often throwing over 70m. With her quick path to glory came some inconsistency, with some competitions she found herself far from her best.
Then it came, the big one, she threw a massive PB of 74.22m in 2022. But after finding such quick success, she also hit a wall.
For years she had to settle behind that mark. As hard as she tried, she could not overcome that barrier again.
Until this weekend in Cyprus, where she soared over it.
“It’s amazing, 75m has been something I wanted to achieve and it’s been so hard,” Jacobsen said. “So to do it so early in the season is really amazing and I know there’s a lot more left so hopefully this won’t be the only time I throw 75m this year.
“I’ve been working my ass off in training, and I’ve really had my ups and downs but even in the downs I tried to keep my head up to just fix the small technical stuff.
“I know I have the power and explosiveness to throw far, I just needed to learn how to manage it without it getting too much. So we’ve really been working on being patient but still being powerful.”
And with the mountain conquered, she became just the 31st European woman to throw beyond 75m.
But now she has her sights set on the next challenge, medalling at the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships. Her distance in Nicosia would have been good enough for gold at the last championships in Roma, so she is certainly capable of fighting for the medals.