The Olympic Games triathlon Mixed Relay WILL go ahead as planned on Monday (August 5) with officials believing the water quality in the River Seine will be ‘acceptable’ for the swim.
There were fears that a second triathlon postponement of the Games (the men’s race was delayed last Tuesday) could be incoming after rain in the French capital in recent days. That can of course result in sewage being washed into the iconic waterway, scuppering that much-vaunted $1.5bn cleanup operation.
Those fears were only heightened when the training/familiarisation swims planned for Saturday and Sunday were both cancelled.
But on Sunday evening, ahead of schedule, came the announcement that the race will go ahead as planned on Monday morning – with no delay to Tuesday and no dreaded downgrade to the duathlon format.
Mixed Relay triathlon will go ahead
A statement released read: “Following requests from the triathlon teams to provide the athletes with more time to prepare for the upcoming Mixed Relay competition, a meeting took place today August 4th at 19:00 to review the water quality results, with representatives from World Triathlon, Paris 2024, the International Olympic Committee, Météo France, DRIEAT, the City of Paris and the Prefecture of the Île-de-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests. During this meeting, World Triathlon took the decision to move ahead with the Mixed Relay competition, scheduled for Monday, August 5, at 8am.
“The latest test results confirm that Seine water quality levels at the triathlon venue have improved in recent hours, with forward looking analysis indicating that water quality will be within the levels acceptable by World Triathlon. As a result, World Triathlon has taken the decision this evening to go ahead with the competition.”
Belgium out, leaving 15 teams
Of course there will now only be 15 teams taking part on Monday, following the shock withdrawal of Belgium on Sunday evening. They pulled out following the news that Claire Michel had fallen ill.
Monday’s race is set to start at 0800 local time (0700 UK, 0200 Eastern Time, 2300 Sunday PST).
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
