Training on the Seine cancelled for the second day in a row
Paris Games organisers suspended triathlon training for the second day on Monday in the River Seine due to pollution caused by rain on Friday and Saturday, although it said it was confident of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The organizing committee, the International Triathlon Union and local authorities have made the “decision to cancel the swimming portion. “Triathlon training” is scheduled for Monday morning, as it happened the day before, because “water quality levels do not provide sufficient guarantees,” their statement said.
Triathlon is the first Olympic event to be held in Seine.ahead of the open-water swimming in the second week of the Games. The men’s individual events are scheduled for Tuesday at 8 a.m., with the women’s competition scheduled at the same time on Wednesday. If the schedule is maintained, the river swimming route will not be recognized in advance, while the Seine, swollen by recent rains, will be at triple its usual summer level.
Companies believe that “water quality will again be below acceptable limits.” before the triathlon competition starts on July 30, taking into account the weather forecast for the next 36 hours,” although forecasters are predicting a storm on Wednesday.
The authorities have invested more than 1.4 billion euros ($1.52 billion at current exchange rates) since 2016 in the creation of a series of infrastructures to reduce pollution in the Seine and its tributary the Marne and thus allow bathing.