Despite World Triathlon’s confidence that there will be a swim in two weeks during the Olympic Test Event in Paris, it is by no means a certainty yet. The water quality of the Seine has always been abominable, but now seems even worse due to heavy rainfall is the French capital.
This weekend, therefore, an Open Water Swimming World Cup – also scheduled to take place in the Seine – was already cancelled. When it rains heavily in Paris, the sewers overflow and flow into the famous river. A logical consequence then, of course, is that the water quality deteriorates drastically. It was recently revealed that the city of Paris is spending 1.4 billion Euro to improve water quality, especially with next year’s Olympics in mind.
World Triathlon remains positive and is confident that the water quality will improve over the next two weeks and that – during the Olympic Test Event, that is – swimming will be possible as usual. If this turns out to be impossible, the event will be converted to a duathlon format.
“For Paris 2024 and World Triathlon, the health and safety of athletes is our top priority. We will therefore, together with the relevant authorities, continue to carefully monitor water quality over the coming days, in the confident expectation – based on the current weather forecast – that elite athletes will compete in the Seine later this month, at the World Triathlon and Para Triathlon Test Event Paris scheduled for 17-20 August.”
The Olympic Test Event is seen as an important qualification race for individual athletes who are not qualified yet and Mixed Relay Teams as well. A duathlon would obviously create a completely different dynamic.
