TO CALL 2018 a record-breaking year for Calvin Tarczy would be an understatement.

The 18-year-old rower would need more than two hands to count the number of achievements, titles and times that he has notched up across the last 12 months.

Currently studying – and rowing – at Harvard, the Londoner had chalked up the much-revered schools triple – with victories in the Schools Head, National Schools and Henley Regatta – in addition to gold in the men’s coxless four at the FISA World Rowing Junior Championships for the second year running.

Now Tarczy is set to join illustrious company as one of ten nominees for the annual One-to-Watch Award, selected from around 1,000 rising British stars supported by SportsAid across more than 60 sports.

SportsAid’s One-to-Watch Award was launched in 2006 with double Olympic medallist and diving world champion Tom Daley the inaugural winner.

Dame Katherine Grainger, Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, and five-time Paralympic champion Natasha Baker are among the panel of judges.

And Tarczy, after being selected last year, is hoping to be able to go one further this time around.

“To be selected again is even more special knowing that it was selected by the sport governing body, and knowing that two years in a row they think I’m one to watch, that’s really nice,” he said

“That just gives me a huge amount of confidence that this is really something to go for.

“The stars aligned, because for a lot of the events we did the conditions were perfect for breaking records.

“We got to the competition [World Rowing Junior Championships] and went through our heat quite easily.

“Again, we had really good conditions and our coach told us to go as hard as we can in the semi-final, and we managed to take 11 seconds off the world record.”

Tarczy now has a relentless schedule of university rowing ahead of him, but will return home in the summer to link back up with the GB setup ready for what promises to a busy summer on the water.

And what with the travel costs incurred by international competition, the support of SportsAid – who offer funding and recognition to young athletes like Calvin at a crucial stage in their careers – has proved invaluable.

“It’s been so helpful having access to the SportsAid funding, because rowing’s a really expensive sport,” said Tarczy - who receives his SportsAid support from GLL Sports Foundation.

“There is the cost of going to trials first of all – and after that you have the cost of going to the worlds – so having the SportsAid funding has essentially paid for my ticket to the worlds.

“It was so useful for me and my family knowing that we didn’t have to worry about that – we could put money towards university or paying for competitions, but I knew that if I got selected that was covered.”

The winner of SportsAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award will be revealed at the charity’s annual SportsBall, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada, in London on Thursday 15 November. Please visit www.sportsaid.org.uk