Michelle Sechser

Michelle was named USRowing’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2022…She is the American record holder on the ergometer in the lightweight women's 6k distance...Michelle began rowing at age 14 for Capital Crew in Folsom, Calif., after seeing how much her older sister was enjoying crew after her first season. After attending grad school at the University of Tulsa for her MBA, she began pursuing her U.S. National Team dream. Through her years on the national team, Michelle has represented OKC High-Performance Center, Vesper Boat Club, and Cambridge Boat Club. In the offseason, Michelle enjoys cycling and races bikes for QCW p/b Cadence Cycling. Her biggest role models are the USA lightweight women who trail-blazed before her, including Jen Goldsack, Christine Collins, Lindsay Burns Barbier, Ellen St Clair, and Joanne Iverson. Michelle won USRowing's Ernestine Bayer Award (Woman of the Year) with partner Molly Reckford in 2021. She enjoys her career at Broadridge Financial Solutions and looks forward to building on her work with the company. She would love to take a long bike vacation to Europe after rowing. There are so many places the team drives through during the international rowing campaigns and she always finds herself saying, "Ah, that would be a great mountain to ride up!" Michelle lists her favorite place to compete as Lucerne, Switzerland, - the lake of the Gods. It is such a small, almost intimate, venue. It doesn't have the huge grandstands and chaos of the larger venues. “It feels almost like our own private little fight club that the outside world doesn't even know is happening. That, and the sights and lake around Lucerne are stunning to see after racing wraps up.” Her favorite place to travel is Italy, specifically Lago di Pusiano. The lake looks like heaven above the clouds. The drama of the sawtooth mountain behind the start line is incredible, and the church bells chime every hour. The food and the coffee are also the best she’s ever had in her life. Michelle lists her favorite Olympic moment as sitting on the start line of the Olympic final with Molly Reckford in the lightweight women’s double. She said, “Our times from the semifinal indicated that we had a solid shot at the Olympic podium if we executed a great race. I remember feeling so strong, confident, and determined to chase that dream. It's an incredible feeling to be sitting there waiting for the light to turn green knowing that you're about to go race for an Olympic medal. Michelle loves music and it plays a huge role in her training and navigating the cycles of the rowing season. She enjoys so many different genres but the playlists she gravitates towards always seem to match the energy and intensity of each part of the training block or the types of workouts. Anything with a good beat.