Harvard finished just over half a second behind world champion Holland Acht in the men's championship eights at the 2026 Head of the Charles, while Sam Melvin unseated defending singles champion Finn Hamill and Grace Joyce captured her first title at the Boston regatta.
The Dutch crew completed Sunday's race in 13:32.835, according to Row360. Harvard took second and Cambridge finished third, falling short of a third consecutive victory. In the women's championship eights, the American crew that earned bronze at the world championships won in 14:44.037.
The close men's finish capped a weekend that shifted from cold, windy conditions Saturday to sunshine Sunday, the concluding day of the regatta's 61st edition. Singles victories opened the championship portion of the weekend before the eights took over Sunday.
Joyce earns first Charles victory
Joyce, representing California Rowing Club, won the women's championship single by six seconds over Kristi Wagner of Boston Rowing Federation, Row360 reported. Row2k confirmed that the victory was Joyce's first at the Head of the Charles and reported that she raced with the No. 2 bow designation.
The result marked an improvement from Joyce's fourth-place finish in 2025. Her season also included a silver medal at the second World Rowing Cup, held in Plovdiv, where she competed in a single. She previously represented the United States in the women's quadruple sculls at the Paris Olympics.
The women's singles field had 20 entries but did not include returning champion Karolien Florijn, the Dutch Olympic gold medalist, according to Row360.
Melvin's men's championship singles victory came against New Zealand's Hamill, who entered as the defending winner. Nearly seven weeks earlier, Melvin had placed fourth at the world championships in Amsterdam, pushing the eventual bronze medalist late in the men's singles race.
Alumni and collegiate crews add repeat wins
Elsewhere in Saturday's championship racing, Kevin Cardno, representing Penn AC, partnered with Jamie Copus to win the men's double. Copus arrived with a bronze medal from the lightweight doubles competition at the Amsterdam world championships. ARION's Goodness and Brija took the women's doubles title.
In alumni eights racing, Brown earned its second straight men's victory, with Washington second. Princeton's Fat Cat entry placed third, finishing four seconds behind Washington. The women's alumni race went to Washington over a Crabtree Boat Club crew composed of former Cambridge rowers. Row360 reported that Washington's winning lineup had not previously raced together.
Sunday also brought another repeat victory for Tufts, which secured a fourth straight women's collegiate eights championship. RowAmerica Rye successfully defended its women's youth eights title, while Los Gatos finished with three victories.
Among Saturday's masters competitors, Penn AC's Shannon Kaplan extended her Head of the Charles winning streak to 13 consecutive titles by taking the women's over-40 single. Racing alongside the over-30 division, Kaplan also posted a quicker time than that division's winner, Katherine McFetridge. Their starts were consecutive, with McFetridge going first and Kaplan following.
