The US won a second Worlds silver in a row in the Light Women's Double on Saturday, and a repeat trip to the podium for bow seat Michelle Sechser, who earned this year's hardware with a new partner, Mary Jones Nabel, in a combination that was put together after the Varese World Cup.
Jones Nabel, who already had a silver in this boat class from back in 2018 with Emily Schmieg, and spent last season winning two World Cups in the single as she came back from an injury, made the boat with Sechser at the selection camp the US team ran after returning from Europe.
The US had been second in Varese to the GB double--in a heater of a final that came down to a margin of 0.08 and within a few seconds of the World's Best Time that GB set in the heats there--and it was that same British duo of Imogen Grant and Emily Craig who led piller-to-post today to repeat as World Champions.
The US crew emerged from the pack chasing the British to take the silver, and the effort keeps the US very much in the picture for Paris next year.
You can watch the video replay of the race here
Michelle Sechser: It really is a dream come true, Goal number one was getting the boat qualified, so we can keep the Paris dream alive and well. Mary and I are both so experienced and have so many years of national team experience, but it is still so new. This is our first lightweight race coming together, and I just loved every second of it. The way we visualized it, through the way Mary did an incredible job of executing the plan. Honestly, I was a little surprised to see our position early on, but I just put my head down and told Mary, 'Don't look, just repeat.' She was driving this great rhythm. It didn't need more; it didn't need anything."
Mary Jones Nabel: I'm just so happy to be in the double with Michelle. It's my first doubles race at Worlds since 2018 and coming back from injury, it's been a long journey but I'm excited to be back and we're having having a great first regatta together and couldn't be happier with a podium finish. Michelle's been a great partner to works with and real a champ in terms of helping to get the double together in such a short amount of time.
Michelle Sechser: A few weeks ago we were uncertain about what our speed would be, once you really bring it to a full week-long regatta against the best in the world, against the reigning world record holders. It was such a hard fought two months to really get up to speed and make every row count. We were even switching our lineup but today, the second the light turned green, it all went away and we did exactly what we talked about. Our instincts took over and, to me, it was a flawless race.
Mary Jones Nabel: We did a really great visualization about racing the world championship finals together and it's actually amazing: we talked and talked about it, so every step of the way, I knew where Michelle's head was at and what I was supposed to do. We didn't actually need words to do what we planned. I think that that just gave us the edge to feel connected to each other and to push fown the race course and give it our absolute best effort.
Michelle Sechser: In the early cycles, when I was first on the team, there were there were a lot of ups and downs for the lightweight double. We had a silver in 2013. We were ninth in 2014. It was a little all over the place, but I really do believe in everything's Josy [Verdonkschot] has built. What we did in 2022 was very much under Josy's guidance and building through this year. Mary hasn't raced in the double in a few years, but she hopped in and repeated that exact same margin. That's just a testament to how skilled she is and how much experience she has.
Mary Jones Nabel: And also a testament to our training group.
Michelle Sechser: That group has been great and really what Josy has built, is step one, get the US double on the podium consistently, always in the front of the pack. Step two? We've got Paris. We've got big goals.
Mary Jones Nabel, on getting back into the double: It's been a really meaningful process. I think the best part has been Josy's guidance and the system that he put together. From encouraging me to do the single last year and then when I had a tough end of the year, just taking me aside and believing in my potential. He said it's going be hard for a few months, getting back, but step by step, he kept believing in me. I kept working and sticking to the plan, taking each opportunity that I had and trying to capitalize on it. There were times that it was a really slow process and we had to stick to it. But I did really capitalize on each opportunity and when it came to the seat race for the boat, I executed that really well. I built a lot of trust in myself and today I just did the same thing that I've been training to do all year.
Read about the other US medal winners here.
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