Ski to Sea to the Olympics. This Bellingham native will compete for Team USA this summer

When Jonas Ecker competed internationally in canoe sprint for the first time at the 2018 Olympic Hopes Regatta, the gulf between him and the rest of the competition was apparent.

And not in a good way. Ecker and his partner finished 18th out of 29 pairs.

“The divide between me as an athlete and the rest of the field was so immense,” Ecker said, “as in I was so far behind everyone else, it felt. That kind of opened up my eyes and really motivated me to improve and get better and see what I could achieve the next year.”

Ecker has improved since then – a lot. This summer he’ll be representing the U.S. again at the international level, but on a slightly bigger stage: the Summer Olympics.

“It still hasn’t really felt real yet,” Ecker said on a video call with the Bellingham Herald in early May, shortly after he qualified for the Summer Olympics.

The Bellingham native, who just finished his third year at the University of Washington this June, earned his spot at the games when he and his racing partner, Aaron Small, won the Men’s K-2 (two-person kayak) 500-meter race at the Canoe Sprint Americas Continental Olympic Qualifier in late April.

“I don’t remember much of crossing the finish line, just because of the adrenaline and the shock in a sense,” Ecker said. “But looking back at the videos that teammates took and stuff, Aaron and I both repeated, ‘This isn’t real. Did it really happen?’”

Ecker and Small will begin their quest for Olympic gold in the canoe sprint preliminary round on Aug. 6.

From Bellingham to Paris

Ecker’s journey to Paris started in 2013 when he attended a summer camp held by the Bellingham Canoe Kayak Sprint Team.

“My mom signed me up for that and kind of I just fell in love with it,” Ecker said. “It’s both individual and team sport where you can race doubles, fours or singles as well as training in a team environment.

“When it comes down to it, it’s really just you that your performance is based on, and so I really liked that kind of self-accountability with the team environment as well,” he continued.

The Sehome High School graduate had competed in the individual kayak (K-1) category and with a partner in the K-2 category before he and Small, who also attends UW, decided to team up.

“It’s a lot of trust,” Ecker said. “Aaron’s trusting me being in the front to have to stick to our race plan, to have the right stroke rate so we don’t overdo it and burn out halfway through, or at the same time don’t under do it and lose the field halfway through. And then I’m trusting Aaron a lot to back it up with power and just doing whatever he can to keep in sync with me.”

Since canoe sprint isn’t recognized by the NCAA, college sports’ governing body, or sponsored by UW Ecker, who studies marine biology, said it’s been difficult for the two to maintain their training regimen while in college.

“I think it’s definitely challenging being in a more of a niche sport because we’re not represented in the NCAA or at the collegiate level in the United States,” Ecker said. “But with that said, the faculty in my department have been phenomenal in their help to allow me to compete and travel.”

Ecker, who now lives in Seattle, still holds a spot for Bellingham in his heart.

“I always joke that if I hadn’t gone to Sehome, I probably would have gone to Western [Washington University],” Ecker said. “Because I went to Sehome, I was like, I don’t really want to go to college at my high school.”

One event in particular brings Ecker home every year: Ski to Sea.

“It’s one of my favorite local events by far. I grew up with my parents racing it and I just love the event,” Ecker said. “Since COVID, I’ve raced for my dad’s team that he’s raced for 15, 20 years, ‘Beaver Tree Service.’ In... was that 2022?... we got second overall and I was happy to also take the top gun in the [kayak] leg.”

Beaver Tree Service took fourth place this year, but Ecker still won the kayak leg. Now, the 21-year-old can turn his attention to the Paris games, where he’ll aim to earn another medal, even if the stakes aren’t quite as high.

This story was originally published June 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM.