PARIS (NEWSnet/AP) — Onlookers gathered on bridges as dozens of boats moved along the Seine River on Monday in a rehearsal for the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony next month.

A total of 55 boats journeyed from Pont d’Austerlitz, named after a French military victory in 1805, to Pont d’Iéna, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower.

Officials are confident that the nearly four-hour ceremony will run like clockwork on July 26.

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“Six months ago we had like 10 minutes delay on the timing and today we are very close, almost to the second to our targets,” Thierry Reboul, the executive director for ceremonies said. “So it is very satisfying. We’ve respected an extremely precise level of timing.”

Around 200 Olympic delegations will join the parade on more than 80 boats on the day of the event. They will make the journey from east to west, along a 3.7-mile route.

Security concerns led French President Emmanuel Macron to say in mid-April that the ceremony could shift to Stade de France if the threat level was too high. But Reboul said Monday that authorities are preparing for the big day as originally planned, with no alternatives being prepared at this stage.

There will be a final rehearsal, involving the full armada of boats, before the opening ceremony — one which is expected to bring 100 world leaders to the city’s embankments, where more than 300,000 people will watch.

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