Olympics 2024: River Seine pollution halts triathlon swim training for second day straight

Pollution in the River Seine has forced the cancellation of swimming training for the Olympic triathlon for a second consecutive day in Paris.

Event organisers decided to cancel training as tests conducted in the Seine on Sunday showed water quality levels “did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held".

Organisers said that the recent rain during Friday's opening ceremony had caused the water quality issues.

However, it is confident that the upcoming sunny weather and higher temperatures will lead to an improvement before the triathlon starts on Tuesday.

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.”

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A worst-case scenario could see the races changed to duathlons, with the swimming leg removed entirely, but that appears unlikely.

Swimming in the Seine had been banned for over 100 years due to the river's poor water quality.

In early June, daily water quality tests showed there were unsafe levels of E coli bacteria in the river.

Paris Olympic organisers invested €1.4 billion (£1.18 billion) to improve the river through the construction of a giant basin to capture excess rainwater and keep wastewater from flowing into the river, renovating sewer infrastructure and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a swim in the river less than two weeks before the Olympics began to demonstrate that the waterway was clean enough to host swimming competitions.

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