How an Olympics-bound rower from Folsom made waves with a big change to her stroke

Michelle Sechser rowed on the varsity eight throughout her time at Folsom High School. In 2003, she brought home a bronze medal from the US Rowing Youth National Championship in Cincinnati.

Sechser’s stature often overshadowed her accomplishments, however.

“It hadn’t occurred to me that at 5-foot-5 and 130 pounds, I was going to have a hard time getting recruited to an open-weight varsity team,” she said.

The average female rower is around 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, according to Sechser. They’re lean, with a tall sitting height. Long arms allow them to cover a farther length with each stroke and propel a boat faster through the water.

Sechser didn’t have what her opponents did. She was too short to have their reach. She was too small in her boat. She decided she would compensate for length with pure power.

Her rowing stroke is unique among her peers. Sechser builds surface tension on the face of her oar, almost like pushing off a physical platform. Because of her strength, Sechser must distribute her rowing weight and power across the oar itself. She loads her stroke’s bulk on the oar’s handle, bending it a bit and creating leverage. Timing each stroke precisely, she maintains the initial surface tension, launching her boat through the water at fast speeds.

Rowing partner Molly Reckford calls Sechser’s technique an “art form.”

High school coach Chris Manibusan agrees. Manibusan met Sechser early in his career. He graduated from Sacramento State in 2001, becoming an assistant coach for Capital Crew the same year. Sechser was among his first group of students.

“I remember when Michelle joined Capital Crew. She was quite short, but extremely fit and powerful,” Manibusan said. “She’d been told by other coaches that she was too small, too this or too that. I always told her that she was capable of accomplishing a lot more, and that’s what she did, time and time again.

“If I could describe Michelle in one word, I’d say ‘driven.’”

This story was originally published June 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.