Karsten Takes Home Head of the Charles Cash

Ekaterina Karsten proved that she is still the one to beat with her victory in the Schwab Sprint women’s singles final at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, Massachusetts at the weekend.

Karsten, who has been suffering from back trouble, placed only third in the long distance race that took place Saturday thereby grabbing the last spot for the 580 metre sprint raced Sunday afternoon.

The Olympic gold medallist from Belarus, who rowed the course in 1:58.6, goes home with the $7,500 prize money.

Carol Skricki of the Untied States finished 1.8 seconds behind while Russia’s Joulia Levina took third place.

In the men’s event, Duncan Free of Australia pocketed the prize money with a victory in 1:44.8 ahead of Germany’s Marcel Hacker and Steve Tucker of the United States.

For both sprint events $7,500 goes to the winner, $5,000 to second place and $2,500 for third place.

The Schwab Sprint race is the brainchild of race director Fred Schoch and Charles Schwab Co., presenting sponsor of the regatta. The organisers of the Head of the Charles offer fully paid trips to the A finalists from the singles races in this year’s FISA World Rowing Championships.

The Head of the Charles runs over two days and attracts over 5,000 athletes in 39 events.