It’s hardly a surprise based on the cancellation of the two practice swims earlier this week. World Triathlon has announced that “following a meeting on water quality held on 30 July at 3:30AM attended by Paris 2024, representatives of World Triathlon and their technical and medical delegates, the International Olympic Committee, Meteo France, the City of Paris, and the Prefecture of the Ile-De-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests, the decision has been made to postpone the men’s triathlon which was due to be held on July 30 at 8 a.m.”
Pushed to Wednesday (hopefully)
The men’s race is now scheduled to take place at 10:45 am, Paris time on Wednesday, after the women’s race, which is scheduled for 8 am. There is also “the original contingency day” on Aug. 2 if the conditions are determined to still be too bad for the races to go tomorrow.
— World Triathlon (@worldtriathlon) July 30, 2024
Tuesday’s announcement suggested that water quality levels have been improving, but it looks like there could be some rain again Wednesday morning, which could throw another wrench in the program. (The pollution levels in the Seine rise after it rains because the sewage network can’t handle the excess water, which leads to pollution getting into the river.)
Why not use a different course?
There’s a reason we’ve seen a number of politicians jump in the water over the last few weeks (Mayor Anne Hidalgo took to the river a few weeks ago, and before that France’s sport minister, Amelie Oudéa-Castéra, did a swim, too) – the Paris 2024 organizers and politicians have invested heavily in the Seine cleanup both in terms of political capital and hard cash.
The river has been a central part of the race, showcased during the Opening Ceremony. On the cash front, millions of euro have been invested on five different projects designed to increase the capacity of the sewage network that would reduce amount of pollution going into the river and make the water safe for swimming. There’s also a new reservoir being constructed which should be able to store and treat water from the river, and millions of euro are being spent on connecting homes to the new sewage networks.
While the open water swim could conceivably be moved to the rowing basin next week, there’s no way to make that venue work and tie in the bike and run courses.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…