There is a quiet authority to Vetle Bergsvik Thorn’s voice when he speaks.
However, his softly spoken manner does not quite conceal the magnitude of his ambitions. His target is an Olympic medal at next year’s Paris Olympic Games. He does not beat around the bush about it.
Sometimes articulating such a lofty goal can be intimidating. Some people prefer to keep it hidden. Not Thorn.
He chooses his words carefully and speaks precisely when he talks of his medal hopes. His words are convincing. His credentials are even more convincing still.
A European Junior Champion in 2018, Thorn won his first World Cup medal last year with a bronze in Bergen. In front of a home crowd, he showcased his running speed over the Sprint distance.
This past weekend, he produced another outstanding performance to win the European Cup in Quarteria, taking out a number of heavy hitters on the way.
“I didn’t get the best of starts,” said Thorn of his race in Quarteira, “but I quickly managed to get up the field to first buoy and into the first group. Most of the work was done on the first lap so the second lap was mostly about maintaining position.”
He emerged in the front pack, although the group was a “bit bigger than what I would’ve wanted”. Despite the best efforts of Jonathan Brownlee, the group “didn’t work too well and there were too many guys to share load equally”.
Luckily they did not lose much time to the chase pack and so when Thorn left T2, he was in a strong position. With WTCS medallists Brownlee, Joao Pereira and Paul Georgenthum for company, it would have been easy to pick a winner other than Thorn. After conserving energy on the first lap, though, he felt good into the finish.
“I picked my moment when I wanted to go and I got a gap,” he explained.
After launching his sprint, his fellow leaders could only watch the soles of his shoes as he hurtled to victory.
Prior to the race, Thorn had been training well. As a result, “I felt like should have been on podium”. Even with experience of Brownlee and Pereira around him, he was confident in his abilities.
Having started the year training at altitude, an incident on the bike cost a few days which later affected him a little into WTCS Abu Dhabi. Since then, his training has been going well.
At the same time, Thorn noted that European Cups are not his focus.
“I was only really there to meet up with the Norwegian team and have a bit of a fun race”.
Instead, the WTCS is his main priority, with Yokohama next up. With greater Series points available compared to Sprint races as well as valuable Olympic points on offer, the Olympic distance races are the most important in Thorn’s eyes.
On the note of Olympic points and rankings, Thorn is currently the second highest Norwegian man in the Olympic rankings. Should Thorn and Gustav Iden have good seasons, Norway could qualify three men to Paris. If they don’t, Thorn will have to fight off a challenge for his spot, with Iden the likeliest challenger.
As perhaps two of the most talked-about names in the sport, is there any pressure with having Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt in same national squad?
Thorn politely dismisssed the notion.
“I have known Kristian and Gustav for a long time so I don’t look up to them the same way as other athletes might as I know them quite closely”.
He acknowledged that it remains a hardy task going up against them. After all Blummenfelt is the defending Olympic champion. At the same time, “it is no different to beating them and other athletes”
Moreover, “Gustav has had some up and down results so beating him when he is not on his best day does not automatically mean I am the best. I have to look beyond.”
By way of example, at WTCS Abu Dhabi earlier this month, Iden finished down in 52nd whereas Thorn, despite having a suboptimal race, ended up in 32nd.
“If I beat them before Paris then I know I’ll be good,” noted Thorn. However, he isn’t setting too much in store by it.
With a medal in Paris as his goal, he isn’t looking at beating compatriots; he wants to beat everyone.
After a weekend in which Thorn won and Solveig Løvseth won her first World Cup medal, the Mixed Team Relay has to be on the Norwegian agenda.
“Last year we tried to qualify a team for the Olympics but there was not enough time to get the best results. But Solveig has improved a lot and Lotte is up there with the best women on her day so we’re going to try to qualify a team. If everyone goes as they can, we’ll qualify.”
In a perfect world, then, Thorn could be fighting for Olympic medals on two fronts in 2024.
After the success of team Norway in the past few years, it would not be a surprise to see them amongst the fight for medals next year. Their leading man, though, might not be name people would have expected back in Tokyo.
Norway’s next great triathlon star might already be here, and he is gunning for the top.
