Bellingham local Jonas Ecker made his Olympic debut Tuesday morning. Here’s how he did

Bellingham local Jonas Ecker made his Olympic debut on Tuesday. If you didn’t stay up into the early hours of the morning to watch the Sehome High School graduate and Ski to Sea mainstay compete, here’s what you missed.

Ecker qualifies for semifinals at Paris Olympics

Competing in the 500 meter K-2 (doubles kayak) portion of the men’s canoe sprint, Ecker and teammate Aaron Small took third place in the second of the competition’s two quarterfinals, with the top four spots in each race advancing to Friday’s semifinal.

Ecker and Small posted a time of 1:28.93, making the cut by .65 seconds. Their time was .36 seconds behind Marko Novaković and Marko Dragosavljević of Serbia for second place, and .57 behind the first place duo, Jakub Spicar and Daniel Havel of the Czech Republic. The American duo posted a faster time than anyone in the first quarterfinal.

Despite the strong showing in the quarterfinal, Tuesday didn’t get off to a great start for the Washington duo. In the preliminary round, Ecker and Small took last place in their heat. However, that race had lower stakes – while the top two finishers in each heat earned a place in the semifinals, everyone competing in the preliminary round was guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals.

When does Ecker compete next?

Ecker and Small will compete in the K-2 semifinals on Friday, Aug. 9. If you’re watching from Washington, the race is slated to start at 2:10 a.m. and will be broadcast live on Peacock. If the pair advances to the finals, you can watch them compete at 4:20 a.m. on E! or Peacock.

Ecker and Small will also compete separately in the 1,000 meter individual kayak competition. You can watch the preliminary round live on Peacock at 1:40 a.m. on Aug. 7, with the quarterfinal slated for 5:10 a.m. later that day.

This story was originally published August 6, 2024 at 11:33 AM.