But from there she simply took control of a race she never looked like losing. The Kiwi eased in front of Lobnig by over a second at the halfway point, had a full boat-length on the Austrian with 500m to go and cruised over the finishing line with nearly 4.5sec to spare, with Brit Victoria Thornley (7:25.12) finishing strongly to grab second spot off Lobnig (7:25.59).
Twigg of course had finished a gut-wrenching fourth in the single sculls at the last two Olympics – in London 2012 and Rio 2016 – and had initially stepped away from the sport after the last of those near-misses.
But something burned at her. Gnawed at her even. And after a two-year hiatus she returned to the sport with this very moment in mind. The 2014 world champion and five-time medallist at the global event now starts the single sculls final on Friday as the warm favourite, and a near-on lock to end that quest for a first Olympic medal at her fourth attempt (she was ninth in Beijing in 2008).