No Surprise This Time: Ben Davison Takes Second Champ 1x Title

Ben Davison took home the title in the Men’s Championship Singles race on Saturday, finishing 21 seconds ahead of the field in winning his second singles title in as many tries.

Davison, a member of the United States’ eight boat in Tokyo this past summer, finished the race with a time of 17:34. Eliot Putnam of Penn AC finished in 17:55.763 to earn second place, and U.S. Rowing’s Christopher Carlson finished in 17:55.946 to round out the top three. Davison began the race in bow position two, seated behind Riverside’s Kevin Meador, who finished in sixth place with a time of 18:12.

Davison took home his first champ singles title in an upset win at the 2018 Head of the Charles. A senior at the University of Washington at the time, he beat out an impressive field of rowers from around the world, including the course’s record holder, Andrew Campbell and five-time world champion and three-time Olympic medalist Mahé Drysdale of New Zealand.

The 2018 regatta was Davison’s first time rowing singles, and Saturday marked the first time that he had rowed singles in a race since then.

Despite being in first place the entire race and finishing with a lead of more than 20 seconds over the second-place finisher on Saturday, Davison said that there was never a moment during the race when he thought for sure that he had the win in the bag.

“I was always trying to push and always trying to keep moving because it’s a tough field,” he said. “There’s a lot of talented guys out there and you never know whose day it’s gonna be.”

The 25-year-old sculler said that he felt well-prepared for the competition on Saturday.

“I felt good. I’ve trained pretty hard for this, and I’ve done a lot of work and I was feeling fit, feeling ready to go,” he said. “I was excited to be out there.”

After a spectator-free Olympics this summer, Davison said that he was happy to be back in Boston and rowing in front of crowds again.

“It’s brilliant. It’s been a fantastic weekend coming here to see everyone,” he said.

Looking forward to 2022, Davison said that he is “absolutely” going to be back for the Head of the Charles a year from now.

“It was a good race. It was a tough field,” he said. “That’s the special thing about this race. It can be anybody’s day, and I’m glad it was me today.”