Did Ezra Carlson, who finished a historic double at the Head of the Charles this weekend, winning both the Champ Single and the Champ Eight, think he could do it?
"Of course, I was thinking about it, I can't help but think about it," said Carlson on Sunday. "I kind of put the champ eight out of my mind, I was really focused on the single leading up to this."
"After the eight, apart from a couple of substitutions, won the Canal Cup over in Germany a couple weeks ago, we were like, 'hey, that works pretty well, let's see if we can go off at the Head of the Charles again.' That was a really fun race. We were like, 'let's just go have fun with it and see how it goes on Sunday.' But honestly, leading up to it this week. I was focused on the single. One race at a time."
After winning a close-fought race in the Champ Single on Saturday, the Champ Eight had Carlson's full attention today, and the crew put down a solid race to win in a new course-record time.
(Note that doubling is generally not allowed in the HOCR except when the second race is a Director's event, but there is a carve-out for National team athletes, to wit: 'Athletes who race in an Olympic boat class at the World Rowing Championships or at the Olympic Games in the current calendar year may row in an HOCR Championship event representing their national team, or in an Invitational Exhibition Entry, and in an additional Alumni or Championship event of their choosing. Entries representing a national team must be at minimum 75% athletes who represented that national team in an Olympic boat class at the aforementioned competitions.')
"I have a lot of faith in the group of guys that we have training right now for the team," he said. "We've trained all summer and together in various boats, and as a spare, I was kind of in and out of the eight this summer. So I got plenty of time rowing with them. It shows, obviously, we can put together a lineup that we haven't rowed before, have one practice and set a new course record here.
"We're all pretty familiar with each other, we can find each other pretty quick. Even though we have a couple different clubs represented, we have, my club, the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, all the CRC guys from out of Oakland, and a couple others. We have a good team culture that we're trying to build towards Paris, and it's working well, So we're gonna try and keep it going."
Even after this accomplishment (and it is historic--besides Gevvie Stone, who won the Women's Champ Single and Women's Champ Eight, a male athlete has not accomplished this feat), Carlson isn't reading too much into the question of whether to focus on sweep or sculling.
"I'm not entirely decided exactly what boat I want to try for," he said. "We all talk to our high performance director Josy [Verdonkschot], and he's done a pretty good job of guiding us individually into what might be best for us, and where might we contribute best to the team."
"That's going to be an ongoing conversation. I love racing the single, it's a really fun challenge. But I also really love team boats, there's nothing like racing an eight. Either way, I just want to contribute to the team as a whole. And obviously, the goal is is to perform well in Paris. But if I can do it alongside a bunch of guys that I believe in and a bunch of guys that I have fun pulling on sticks with, all the better!"
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10/24/2022 11:57:40 AM
3.7. Personal Competition Limits: With the sole exception of the Directors’ Challenge Races, no person (including coxswains) shall be eligible to compete in more than one event-division (race) at the Regatta and any person that remains entered in a sculling event after the September 28th withdrawal deadline shall not be eligible to compete in any sweep-oared event in the current year’s Regatta.
10/24/2022 2:03:21 PM
10/24/2022 11:11:12 AM