Officials are investigating after a number of athletes who participated in a triathlon in England as part of the World Triathlon Championship Series fell ill following the event.
The triathlon was held in Sunderland last weekend.
One of the participants, Australian Jake Birtwhistle, took to Instagram on Thursday, writing: "Have been feeling pretty rubbish since the race, but I guess that's what you get when you swim in sh*t."
Birtwhistle shared a number of images from the event, including a graph showing e-coli levels in the Roker-Sunderland area, where the event took place. The graph shows the levels from the most recent sample were over 3,000 colonies per 100ml.
He added that the swim portion of the event should have been cancelled in light of the results.
Governing bodies, British Triathlon and World Triathlon, issued a statement confirming they are aware of illness "among some participants", and are working with Sunderland City Council and the UK Health Security Agency North East to examine the matter.
"Participants who have already reported illness to British Triathlon are being contacted by UKHSA North East to support their investigations," the statement added.
British Triathlon also acknowledged the water testing carried out by the Environment Agency on July 26th. "These tests were taken outside of the Roker Pier arms and not in the body of water used for the swim and published on Monday 31 July following the event," they said.
They added that the waters where the open swim took place were tested the week prior to and during the event, in line with World Triathlon guidelines, the results of which both passed the required standards.
