Jonas Ecker had an abundance of time to reflect on his recent success while driving home to Seattle from a two-week sprint kayak training stint in Southern California.
Ecker, 21, who was born and raised in Bellingham and has been a member of the U.S. Sprint Canoe and Kayak National Team since 2018, was just two weeks removed from three top finishes at the 2024 American Canoe Association (ACA) Sprint National Team Trials on Lake Natoma near Sacramento.
The trio of wins placed him and his race partner, Aaron Small, one step away from qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Ecker has an opportunity to qualify in one individual event and another alongside Small.
“I didn’t think I’d be in this position,” Ecker said. “I like to take it one step at a time, but … it’s one step away.”
Ecker and Small’s push to Olympic qualification began in 2022 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when they competed in the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Sprint World Championships.
The duo finished seventh in the MK2 500-meter race — just outside what would be a top-six Olympic qualifying requirement in 2023 ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
“We were like, ‘Holy smokes, if we’re this close right now, in another year, where could we be?’” Ecker said.
They grew more motivated than ever, only to later realize their result was slightly inflated by it not being an Olympic qualifying year, so attendance was limited. That didn’t stop them from focusing most of their energy on trying to qualify together the next year.
At the 2023 ICF Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, Ecker and Small got a firm gauge of where they stood internationally. They finished 15th in the MK2 500-meter, and Ecker took 23rd in the MK1 1,000-meter race — a solo event — but neither result was high enough to qualify.
But it wasn’t the last opportunity. That final chance will be at the 2024 Canoe Sprint Americas Continental Olympic Qualifier from April 23–25 in Sarasota, Florida. With wins at the national team trials, that’s now where Ecker and Small are headed.
“The idea that I could reach or have the potential to reach the pinnacle of my sport is really exciting,” Ecker said.
Tip over, and get right back in
Ecker is one of the founding members of the Bellingham Canoe and Kayak Sprint Team (BCKST), beginning his paddling journey in 2013 at the age of 10.
His mother was a collegiate rower at Washington State University, while his father is a multisport athlete and cyclist, primarily.
There wasn’t one particular piece of the sport that attracted him, Ecker said. It was everything about it. Even though youth boats are wider and less “tippy,” as Ecker put it, most beginners spend more time in the water than in the boat.
“[Ecker] kept having fun through the development years,” said BCKST head coach Steve Scoggins, who Ecker regards as vital to his initial grasp of the sport. “That got him to a spot as a young adult where he chose an extreme amount of discipline to get where he’s at.”
But what really intrigued Ecker was the individual nature of paddling, while also being steeped in a passionate team environment.
“The self-accountability of the sport gave me an opportunity to, at the start, just have fun with it,” Ecker said. “Once I got older and started spending more time in the boat than in the water, I then realized that I did love the sport.”
In his early years of racing, competing didn’t also mean winning for Ecker — even at the national level.
“It was many years before he even ever made it onto the podium for a national event,” said Brian Ecker, Jonas’ father and primary coach. “People on his team were winning medals every time and it was probably three years before he took home a single medal, while he was watching others have massive amounts of success.”
Jonas remained determined, first reaching the international stage in 2018 while also competing with BCKST through high school until he graduated in 2021.
In 2019, Brian became his primary coach, and he won his first international medal at the Olympic Hopes Regatta — essentially an under-17 world championship — finishing third in the MK1 500-meter and 10th in the MK1 1,000-meter races.
The father-son relationship also evolved into one of a coach and athlete, with Brian helping Jonas fine-tune his training from his own experiences as a competing cyclist.
“As his performances improved, he just kind of began resourcing me more and more for help and kind of balancing out [training],” Brian said.
He went on to finish first in three events at U.S. Nationals that year, beginning his resume that now boasts 14 national titles, multiple under-23 world championship podium finishes and much more.
“Each year, my international results have gotten just a little bit better, both at the age group, international and senior levels,” Jonas said. “So that kind of showed that I was moving in the right direction.”
The journey to now
Since his high school graduation, Jonas has continued to stack years of national and international competition. He is eight months away from graduating from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and has developed a three-year friendship and racing partnership with Small, also his roommate.
When Jonas takes to the water at continentals in late April, the qualification parameters are simple: in the MK2 500-meter, he and Small must finish first overall; in the MK1 1000-meter, Jonas’ solo event, he must finish top two.
However, due to the quota system the Olympics employ, Jonas and Small each can race both the MK1 and MK2 events in Paris if he and Small only win the MK2 race at continentals.
“[MK2] is definitely the focus because that means both Aaron and I get to go and compete,” Jonas said.
After once being one of many kids battling to stay upright in the waters of Lake Padden, Jonas said he is going to give this next step in his journey everything he’s got.
“It’s super exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time. It’s been a long, long journey,” Brian said. “We, of course, have been here the whole time. It’s great to see the steady progression he’s made both as an athlete and as a human.”
Connor J. Benintendi is CDN’s sports editor; reach him at connorbenintendi@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
