Greatest Races Week 31

“I figured I had about 30 hard strokes; it was really about 45. At the end, I was just (saying) ‘Keep it together. Don’t let up.’ It was better than my best race.” Said Guerrette in a press release issued from USRowing and posted on Harvard’s website.

It could hardly be said that Michelle began from humble beginnings, initiating her rowing career at Harvard and quickly working her way on the U23 World Championship team. But as the starter pulled the line in Gifu, Japan she was a definite underdog. Although no novice to international competition (she competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in the 4x), she was a freshman 1x sculler in a field of giants. Having been in the single for just over a year at the time, the World had an inkling of her talent but few realized her potential. She would match both attributes with her racing acumen in this World Championships as she tackled a very talented women’s field that included double Olympic Champion, and reigning world Champion Ekaterina Karsten Khodotovich.

In 2008 she would chop down possibly some of the biggest trees in women’s 1x history to place 2nd at the Olympic Games.