Nine years at each other’s side hasn’t dulled the friendship or competitiveness of New Zealand sailors Alex Maloney and Molly Meech.
Quite the opposite. They feel energised and confident as they try to turn their silver medal from the Rio Olympics into gold at Tokyo.
The pair sail the demanding 49erFX skiff, the women’s equivalent of the boat that superstars Peter Burling and Blair made their name in.
Like their famous male counterparts, there’s a symmetry to Maloney and Meech that is founded in natural talent and has blossomed through partnership.
“We are lucky that we started off as friends because that makes the journey easier. We have that level of fun that comes pretty naturally,” the bubbly Maloney tells Stuff.
We’ve been together for a long time, so there are going to be times when you work through things, and we are lucky that we have a lot of support.
“We have been working on our communication, and it’s to get the best out of ourselves. We’ve definitely worked at it, but it also comes naturally too.
“We have a really good process in our team, we debrief thoroughly, and we really do know our weaknesses. We make priorities for each training block we do, and we try to hold ourselves to working on those.”
It’s been a tough 18 months for the pair. Eight weeks of lockdown last year was the most they had spent away from each other in a schedule that usually has them on a non-stop global sailing calendar.
Having had a disappointing world championships in Auckland in November 2019, they were looking to make amends when the worlds were quickly held again in Melbourne two months later.
They placed second at the pre-worlds Oceania championship, but then disaster struck when Maloney broke a foot during training. For a while it was an injury that threatened their Olympics involvement, a situation that was eased when the Tokyo Games were postponed for a year.
There has been little racing for them – they have sailed just one international regatta in Spain finishing fifth – but they feel they have used their time wisely.
“We look at it as a bonus,” Meech said of the year delay. “You can look at it both ways in that we haven’t had the (racing) experience. I feel like we were ready in 2020, now I feel like we are more ready.
“We have had to be pretty innovative with how we have used the last year to keep improving without competitions. But I think we’ve taken it in our stride, we’re just as ready, if not more.
“We’ve really pushed to improve and make the next jump. If you stay still, the fleet is going to catch you. I think we’ve done a really good job of that.”
Maloney agrees and knows they will have to sail better than they did in Rio where the 49erFX made its Olympic debut. Most of the sailors have stayed with the class, others have come in, and the performance levels have risen.
“I feel better than we were going into Rio,” Maloney said.
“We feel more capable as a team, our team work and our ability has grown. The fleet has got deeper than Rio, but I think our ability has also increased … we’re feeling confident.”
Meech and Maloney have made the most of their time in New Zealand where the high performance squad have frequently used Tutukaka in Northland to try to replicate the ocean conditions the Olympic fleets will face at the Japanese venue of Enishoma.
Meech and Maloney resisted an opportunity to round off their preparations in Queensland where the bulk of the Kiwi team headed. They felt they had solid competition in Auckland to continue with.
A building 49erFX fleet has included some of New Zealand’s top men’s youth sailors getting involved, like Seb Menzies, Brayden Hamilton, Mason Mulcahey and Thomas Mulcahey.
“The boys have been pushing us pretty hard, it seems they don’t like to lose to girls,” quipped Maloney.
It will be a family affair in Japan with Meech’s brother Sam sailing the men’s Laser after getting bronze in Rio, and Maloney’s brother Andy coaching New Zealand’s Finn class sailor, fellow America’s Cup winner Josh Junior.
