Paris Olympics organizers have canceled training for triathletes in the River Seine again because of poor water quality, leading to more uncertainty over whether the mixed relay will go ahead as planned on Monday.
All training was canceled in the river last week and the men’s individual race had to be delayed by 24 hours because of pollution problems.
It finally took place after the women’s event on Wednesday.
A heavy rainstorm on Thursday night is believed to have again dirtied the river’s waters, with downpours known to cause discharges from the sewers into the waterway.
Paris 2024 spokeswoman Anne Descamps told reporters that athletes were informed on Saturday evening that training had been canceled for Sunday.
“It follows the rain that occurred in the last days,” she said. “We are expecting improvements regarding the weather forecast… we are hopeful that we can organize the competition tomorrow and we will make the decision as planned tomorrow morning.”
She declined to share the latest water quality readings.
The mixed relay triathlon features two men and two women per team in a sprint format, meaning a 300-meter swim, a seven-kilometer (4.3-mile) bike ride and a 1.8-km run.
It was introduced at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where Britain won gold.
The Seine is also set to be used for marathon swimming – a 10-kilometer race – on August 8 for women and August 9 for men.
Many triathletes were surprised by the strength of the Seine’s currents last week, while some also complained about the water and delays for training and the men’s competition.
Belgian competitor Jolien Vermeylen later told Flemish television outlet VTM that while swimming under the bridge, she felt and saw things that one shouldn’t think about too much, without elaborating further.
Paris organizers said that the water quality was “very good” based on criteria used by World Triathlon.
The levels of E.Coli bacteria – a key indicator of faecal matter – were clocked at 192-308 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/ml) on the day of the races, well below the upper limit of 1,000 cfu/ml.
With AFP
