Olympic organizers have confirmed the ‘last resort’ for the Paris 2024 triathlon should the swimming leg not be able to take place if the River Seine fails water quality tests again.
The triathlon has seemed a doomed event since the opening ceremony of the Games despite massive clean-up efforts taking place on the Seine in order to de-pollute the river. However, heavy rainfall has caused the water quality to test below the required level and postponed the men’s triathlon this morning.
Both the men and women’s event is scheduled to take place on Wednesday (August 1) with a second contingency day available on August 2. But should the triathlon not be able to take place in this format, with a weather warning for storms in place in Paris on Tuesday evening, the event will be reduced to a ‘duathlon’ as a ‘last resort’
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Paris 2024 sport director Aurelie Merle revealed that data on Tuesday showed that only one of the four tests on the Seine was recorded below World Triathlon’s E-coli contamination threshold. Two tests were slightly over, with one significantly above.
Merle confirmed that switching the event to a duathlon was a 'last resort' option. “We worked very closely with World Triathlon when it came to contingency plans,” she said. “The difference with marathon swimming is that either you swim or you cancel the race, while in the triathlon you still have the opportunity as a last resort to move to a duathlon.”
World Triathlon president Marisol Casado did say that he was confident the event could go ahead as a triathlon on Wednesday despite Tuesday’s result and the weather warning in place. “At this point we are all disappointed, because we have not been able to follow strictly what is planned,” Casado said.
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“I think we are all in a good mood and think we will have the opportunity because behind this issue we have the best possible people, that if it is necessary we can find another different moment in the week if we need. At this point, we are quite confident it will happen tomorrow and then we will be happy, all of us, especially the athletes.”
Casado acknowledged the organization has been forced to change events from triathlons to duathlons in recent years, suggesting that climate change has been a major concern. “Unfortunately in the last five years we have had to change to duathlon to avoid canceling the event, because if we cancel the event there are no medals or prize money in our [World Triathlon events],” Casado said.
“The climate has changed that we are facing. In some cases we have waves that are too high, in other moments we have electrical storms or something like that. We can finish and do a competition because our athletes really want to compete. I don't think it is unfair, it is another situation of the competition.”
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