IN LONELY MAJESTY: Kjetil Borch won by almost 10 seconds.
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TOKYO / OSLO (VG) Kjetil Borch (31) was the first Norwegian in action during the games in Tokyo, and started with a superior victory and the quarter-final ticket in the box.
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Borch had full control of his heat. The 31-year-old took the lead early, and eventually distanced himself from the competition. In the end, he crossed the finish line with a time of 6.54.56.
It was the best time from all six heats. Closest to Borch was Greek Stefanos Ntouskos, who crossed the finish line to the time 6.59.49 in heat number two. In other words, Borch was just over five seconds ahead of the second best during the preliminary round.
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In fine conditions under the sun on the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo, Borch was just over 34 seconds away from the world record from 2017.
– It is typically the first race in a championship. There is no race left until Monday, so it is perfectly OK to work today, says national team coach Johan Fodin to VG.
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1-3. place in each heat takes directly to the quarterfinals on July 26. The rest must go out in the collection round on 24 July.
Brazil’s Luca Verthein Ferreira and Hungary’s Bendeguz Petervari-Molnar will join Borch from heat number one to the quarterfinals.
Borch won by a full 9.96 seconds ahead of Hungarian Petervari-Molnar.
– He needs physical exertion as well, so it helps to be at 90-95% exertion throughout the race. We have been preparing for a long time. We know that the form is creeping day by day, says Flodin.
In heat number three, a Borch challenger, Danish Sverri Nielsen, also showed up. He did in the corpse hot with Borch short process with the competitors and won in the end with the time 7.02.88, just over eight seconds behind the time of Borch.
Borch is one of many Norwegian gold hopes during the games in Tokyo. He has previously taken Olympic bronze in double sculls with Olaf Tufte during the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
On Friday at 13.00, the stage is set for the opening ceremony of the Olympics and then the Olympic flame will also be lit. But still the games are well underway, and Borch was the first Norwegian in action in the preliminary round.
Later on Friday night, Olaf Tufte will also start his seventh and final Olympics when he goes out in double fours at 04.30.
The case is being updated.
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