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Paris 2024 Olympic Open Water Test Event Postponed Due to Pollution in River Seine

The Open Water Swimming World Cup stop this weekend in Paris has been postponed due to substandard water quality in the River Seine caused by the city’s heaviest summer rainfall in two decades.

A training session on Friday morning was canceled and the women’s 10km race scheduled for Saturday has been pushed back until Sunday, the same day as the men’s 10km. World Aquatics said an update on water quality will be released around 5 a.m. Paris time on Sunday morning, just a couple hours before the women’s 10km is slated to begin.

β€œThe water quality in the river Seine is still below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health, following several days of rainfall,” the French Swimming Federation (FFN) said on Friday. β€œAs a result, the decision has been taken, in consultation with public health authorities and event delivery partners, to modify the proposed schedule.”

The event is doubling as a test run for the Paris Olympics next summer, when swimmers will compete in the Seine for open water and triathlon events. The course features a direct view of the Eiffel Tower.

This weekend’s races represented the fourth of five stops on the 2023 Open Water Swimming World Cup tour after previous competitions in Soma Bay (Egypt), Golfo Aranci (Italy), and Setubal (Portugal). The last World Cup races will take place in Eilat (Israel) on Dec. 1 and 2.

Paris 2024 Olympic organizers said they will be better prepared to deal with pollution in the River Seine by the time next summer rolls around. An $88 billion underground overflow basin should be ready before next summer to further prevent contamination.

Pollution issues with open water are not a new phenomenon at the Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Games in Rio, waterborne viruses were a major concern in Guanabra Bay, and at Tokyo 2020, water quality issues (as a result of pollution) in Tokyo Bay were a major storyline leading all the way up to the Games.

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Jess
1 year ago

Ew. Nasty. How long have they known that the pollution was going to be a problem? Don’t want world-class athletes getting dysentery. This isn’t Oregon Trail.

SHRKB8
Reply to  Jess
1 year ago

They have spent billions on cleaning this river system up over the past 12months but reports are that due to “heavy summer rainfall” the river system has greater than acceptable levels of ecoli for athlete safety, so the event has been fully cancelled this morning Paris time. No backup venue, so no racing at all.

Looking at the positives, Paris Olympic organising committee now have not quite 12 months to prevent the same thing from happening at the world’s largest sporting event. Cold comfort for the athletes that had travelled from around the globe for today’s event however.

SHRKB8
1 year ago

The actual course looks sensational and will provide one hell of a spectacle if they can actually compete on it. Feeding station will be hectic though (even more than a normal Openwater race) as it is on a very short section of the course between 2 turn bouys. Lots of people travelled a long way to compete, one can only pray for a safe and sensible outcome. πŸ€žπŸ™.

SHRKB8
Reply to  SHRKB8
1 year ago

Fully cancelled due to poor water quality. 😭

BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

Where’s the backup location for open water swimming at the Olympics next year?

Swim Dad
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

The Sarno

Torchbearer
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
1 year ago

Tahiti- where the surfing is being held….. πŸ™‚

MSC
1 year ago

Must be really bad for the French to not want to swim in it.

Dan
Reply to  MSC
1 year ago

They have spent a lot of time and money clean up and improve the water quality so it is much better than it has been in a long time, just a little more needs to be done πŸ™‚

DK99
1 year ago

Most clean part of France

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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