Will This Finally be Emma Twigg's Year?

What to Watch for on Saturday: Women’s Champ Single

Fresh off her silver medal in the single at the Paris Olympics, Emma Twigg insists she’s rowing her last elite flat-water race in Saturday’s HOCR Champ Singles. After this weekend, she’s switching to coastal rowing, an up-and-coming sector of the sport that involves different boats on ocean water.

“I know that my career has been really long, so I would say that I have achieved what I wanted to there,” said the 37-year-old New Zealander. “I think [coastal] interests me the most at this stage in my career.”

Twigg has rowed in the Head of the Charles Regatta 12 times but has never won in a single here. It is maybe the one thing missing from the resume of one of the most decorated women in the sport’s history. She has rowed in five Olympics, won gold in Tokyo in addition to her Paris silver, and medaled numerous times at the world championships. She’s back in Cambridge this year solely because she wants to finish with a perfect course.

“I always just try and get my course right on this river. And I don’t think I’ve ever rowed a perfect course,” said Twigg. “So tomorrow might be the day. If I rowed the perfect course, then you’ve got a shot, especially when you know Cambridge locals know the river like the back of their hand.”

Like most Olympians, Twigg took time off after the Games, only getting back on the water two or three weeks ago, just to “fine tune things.” But she’s not placing too much pressure on this weekend; for her it’s about fun and catching up with people.

She’ll row against a Champ Singles field that includes seven Paris Olympians and two past HOCR champions. She has been a popular figure at the Head of the Charles and the Boston crowd would no doubt be delighted with a Twigg win. So would Twigg, though it’s always a good weekend for her.

“It’s missing, but I have come to terms with the fact that it will probably always be missing,” Twigg said about not having won at the Regatta. “I just love catching up with old friends. Like it’s a place where this is, you know, there’s novice rowers through to masters. And so everyone comes and it’s a good time.”