2024 Champion: Michelle Sechser (USA)
Entries: 22
Few events at the Head of the Charles bring together as much sheer quality as the women’s championship singles. This year’s lineup reads like a who’s who of the international sculling scene: Olympic champions, Henley Royal Regatta finalists, and multiple World Rowing Championship gold medalists all preparing to tackle the Charles. After a long spring and summer of battling it out over the 2k discipline, some of the world’s best athletes now turn their attention to Boston. The Charles’ winding course serves as the great equaliser, where steering, strategy, and course knowledge often outweigh raw power. Those with past Charles experience, particularly defending champion Michelle Sechser, stand to have a crucial advantage over their international counterparts. With Sechser seeking to defend her title, Karolien Florijn bringing Olympic dominance, and a host of hungry contenders chasing them down, the women’s single promises to be a masterclass in small-boat racing.
Michelle Sechser – USRowing Training Center – Princeton (US)
Sechser enters this year’s championship singles as the defending champion and the rower to beat. She has owned the Charles course in recent years, winning back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024, while also rewriting the American lightweight record books with a 6:55.2 for 2k and 21:47.1 for 6k on the erg. This past summer, she confirmed her world-class status by winning the 2025 lightweight women’s single at the World Rowing Championships. All of that makes Sechser a rare blend of proven course pedigree and global dominance. She is the benchmark in this field, and the onus is on others to find a way past her.
Karolien Florijn – A.S.R. Nereus (NL)
Florijn arrives in Boston with perhaps the most intimidating résumé in women’s sculling. The reigning Olympic champion in the single, she completed a remarkable run of form with consecutive World Rowing Championship titles in 2022 and 2023, alongside European Rowing Championship victories from 2019 through 2023. Since the Olympics, she has shifted her focus to coastal rowing, making the Head of the Charles her first major international appearance since her gold medal performance in Paris. While the Charles presents a far different challenge from the flat, buoyed Olympic course, Florijn’s record leaves little doubt that she enters as one of the clear favourites. The key question is whether the twisting, technical nature of the river might narrow the gap between her and the rest of the field. If her recent coastal experience translates, Florijn could well prove that power and precision are not mutually exclusive on the Charles.
Fiona Murtagh – National University of Ireland Galway Boat Club (IE)
After years powering Ireland’s team boats, including an Olympic appearance in the pair that saw her finish second in the B-final, Fiona Murtagh made a bold switch to the single sculls. Few expected her rise to be so meteoric, but a World Rowing Championship title later, she’s firmly established herself among the sport’s elite. The result marked one of the most impressive transitions in recent memory, showcasing her adaptability and raw endurance. Still, with limited experience on the Charles, questions linger about whether her newfound dominance can carry through the river’s twisting, unpredictable course.
Imogen Grant, Upper Thames Rowing Club (UK)
Imogen Grant arrives in Boston as one of the most decorated lightweight scullers in the world, but her story is as much about consistency as it is about brilliance. A three-time Boat Race winner with Cambridge, twice in record time, and the reigning Olympic champion in the lightweight double, Grant also secured back-to-back World and European Rowing Championship titles in 2022 and 2023 in the same discipline. Yet, success on the Charles has so far eluded her. She placed 11th in this event last year and suffered an early exit at Henley Royal Regatta this summer to V. Senkutė of Lithuania. Still, Grant’s technical precision and racing intelligence make her an ever-present threat. Having mastered the unpredictable bends of the Thames in the Boat Race, she will look to channel that same composure and course sense on the Charles, a river that similarly rewards rhythm, steering, and composure.
Teal Cohen, New York Athletic Club (US)
Cohen was the revelation of last year’s championship singles, finishing fourth in a deep field while representing USTC–Princeton. Now, wearing New York Athletic Club colours, she has only strengthened her résumé by winning gold in the coxless four at the 2025 World Rowing Championships. She will be the first of two athletes from that gold-medal-winning crew to contest the championship single this year, bringing a powerful combination of recent Charles experience and international success. That suggests Cohen is on an upward trajectory. She may not yet have the Olympic medals of some of her rivals, but her performance trend points to a rower who is bridging that gap quickly, making her an intriguing dark horse capable of upsetting the more established champions.
Azja Czajkowski – USRowing Training Center – Princeton (US)
Czajkowski is one of the most exciting younger names to watch. A product of the NCAA system, she was the 2023 CRCA Division I Athlete of the Year, and since then has cemented her place in the U.S. national team, racing in the pair at the Olympics and most recently winning gold at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in the coxless four. She will be the second member of that world championship crew to contest the Championship Single this year, joining Teal Cohen in bringing momentum and confidence to Boston. Though less tested in the single at the very highest levels, her raw power and rising trajectory make her a dangerous wildcard. If she can harness her speed and adapt to the tactical, technical demands of the Charles, she could announce herself as a serious contender in this format.
Honorable Mentions
Beyond the headline names, several athletes could shape the race. Savannah Brija, who finished third here last year after placing ninth in 2023 and racing in the U.S. quad at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, has proven she can perform on the Charles. Canada’s Katie Clark brings sharp international form, with fourth at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup and seventh at this year’s World Rowing Championships, while Grace Joyce, sixth in Boston last year, added a fifth at Lucerne and eighth at the World Rowing Championships in the double. Germany’s Juliane Faralisch also showed quality with a sixth-place finish at Lucerne before withdrawing from Henley Royal Regatta. None have yet claimed the global medals of the featured athletes, but all are capable of breaking into the top five if they hit their stride on the Charles.
Prediction
My prediction – Sechser to defend her crown, Murtagh to take silver, and Cohen to leap onto the podium in bronze.
The women’s championship singles at the Head of the Charles is a test of form, experience, and adaptability. Defending champion Michelle Sechser carries both course knowledge and momentum, making her hard to beat. Fiona Murtagh, fresh from a world title in the single, is the form athlete of the moment, but her limited experience on the Charles may cost her. Teal Cohen, who finished just five seconds off the podium last year, arrives with both recent Charles experience and World Rowing Championship gold in the coxless four, putting her in prime position to bridge that gap and challenge the leaders.
Karolien Florijn, despite her unmatched résumé, arrives without a major international race in 2025. Her focus on coastal rowing means she comes to Boston without the same race rhythm — a potential vulnerability reminiscent of Ollie Zeidler’s Henley Royal Regatta upset. On a course that rewards familiarity as much as raw power, that absence could prove decisive.
At the Charles, anything can happen, but I’m betting that this trio could well define the race.
