Poor water quality in the Seine caused swimming training for the triathlon to be cancelled on Sunday but organisers remain confident the races will be able to go ahead as scheduled.
Triathletes were due to hold a familiarisation session in the river at 8am but organisers had warned on Saturday that it could be at risk and the decision was taken not to allow them into the water.
Heavy rain can raise the levels of harmful E Coli bacteria and the deluge that marred the opening ceremony on Friday has had an effect.
More than one billion euros has been spent cleaning up the Seine to make it a central part of the Games and, with better weather forecast until the individual triathlon races on Tuesday and Wednesday, organisers are hopeful there will not be any delays.
A worst-case scenario could see the races changed to duathlons, with the swimming leg removed entirely, but that appears unlikely.
A statement from the organising committee read: “The tests carried out in the Seine yesterday revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.
“This is due to rain that has fallen on Paris on 26 and 27 July. Given the weather forecast for the next 48 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start of the triathlon competitions.
“As observed in July, with summer conditions, water quality in the Seine has improved significantly. Paris 2024 and World Triathlon reiterates that the priority is the health of the athletes.”
A beautiful morning 🌅 here in Paris 🇫🇷 for this morning’s course familiarisations.#Triathlon #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/U7mD303A4E
— World Triathlon (@worldtriathlon) July 28, 2024
The bike and running familiarisation sessions were able to go ahead as planned.
Britain have high hopes of medals in both the individual events and the team relay, and performance director Mike Cavendish is confident their chances will not be adversely affected.
He said in a statement to the PA news agency: “We’re receiving regular communications from World Triathlon and the Paris 2024 organising committee, and are encouraged by the better weather forecasted for Sunday and Monday.
“All parties remain optimistic for the competition days on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
“While a reduction in familiarisation sessions would impact all competing nations, we have great confidence in the preparation we’ve done and know our athletes will be on the start-line in the best possible shape to compete at their best.”
