Olympics-Athletics-Finland's Tervo makes statement in Olympics hammer throw preliminaries

Paris 2024 Olympics - Athletics - Women's Hammer Throw Qualification-Gp B - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - August 04, 2024. Krista Tervo of Finland in action /Aleksandra Szmigiel

PARIS - Finland's Krista Tervo threw a national record in the preliminary round of the women's hammer throw at the Paris Olympics on Sunday to clinch her spot in the final in emphatic fashion.

The 26-year-old led all qualifiers with a toss of 74.79 to top her previous Finnish record of 74.63 set in May.

Canada's reigning world champion Camryn Rogers fouled on her first throw before hurling the hammer 74.69 metres with her second, and then called it a day having clinched her spot in the final. American DeAnna Price had the third best throw at 73.79.

Rogers flashed a heart sign with two hands to her mother Shari in the crowd.

"She is psyched," Rogers said. "She is so excited to be here. My whole family is -- they didn't get the chance to be in Tokyo.

"To be at their first Olympics, my second, and to go through to the final with me is amazing. That's my team. They are super excited. You could see it in the 10-minute hug we had (after qualifications)."

Rogers's teammate and world champion Ethan Katzberg is the favourite for Sunday evening's men's hammer final after topping the preliminary round.