Olympic Triathlon: Men’s event at Paris Games postponed due to water quality in Seine River
The men’s individual triathlon at the Paris 2024 Olympics has been postponed after tests showed water quality in the Seine River did not meet required standards.
The race is scheduled to start at 07:00 BST (08:00 local time) on Tuesday and will get underway on Wednesday at 09:45 (10:45 local time), following the conclusion of the women’s event.
Swimming sessions were cancelled on Sunday and Monday due to water quality being affected by recent heavy rain.
Friday, August 2 remains the backup date for both races, while organizers say the event could be held as a duathlon as a last resort.
“Tests carried out on the Seine today showed that the water quality was not sufficient to ensure the organisation of the event,” World Triathlon said.
“Although water quality has improved, concentrations at some points along the swimming route are still higher than permitted levels.”
Great Britain’s Alex Yee is one of the favourites for gold in the men’s event, while teammate Beth Potter is the women’s world champion.
Water quality tests are being carried out daily in the Seine River, which will also host the mixed triathlon relay on August 5, the Olympic marathon swim on August 8 and 9 and the Paralympic triathlon event, which starts on August 28.
Organisers say around €1.4bn (£1.2bn) has been spent on a reconstruction project to make the Seine safe to swim in after a 100-year ban.
But just this June, E. coli levels were 10 times higher than the allowable levels set by sports federations.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo recently swam in the river to highlight the clean-up efforts that have been made and earlier this month tests found the river clean enough to swim in.
However, heavy rain in Paris on Friday and Saturday caused water quality to deteriorate and at a meeting at 03:30 local time, the decision was made to postpone the event.
Paris organizers remained confident on Monday that the men’s race would go ahead on Tuesday morning.
Showers and thunderstorms are forecast on Wednesday morning, following hot temperatures expected to reach 35C on Tuesday.
Paris 2024 chief executive Lambis Konstantinidis told BBC Sport: “In the case of triathlon, the heat has a positive effect because the sunlight and the increased temperature is beneficial in the sense that it kills bacteria.”
Organizers have plans to cope with high temperatures for each sport and competition venue, some sports have specific temperature thresholds that, if exceeded, will not be allowed to continue competing.
