Olympic Men’s Triathlon Pushed Back Over Seine Water Quality

The Seine continues to make things difficult for the Olympic Games. 

The men’s triathlon, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been pushed back to Wednesday after tests showed high levels of bacteria in the river.

“Despite the improvement on the water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits,” event organizers said.

Rain in Paris throughout Friday and most of Saturday has thrown new levels of doubt as to whether the water quality in the Seine will be sufficient to allow for open-water swimming events in the Olympics. More rain is forecast over the next few days. Swimming in the Seine has been illegal since 1923, but Paris 2024 preparations included a massive clean-up effort in hopes of making it usable for the Games and further showcasing the city. The famous body of water divides Paris and runs through it. 

But pollution in the Seine, particularly E. coli levels, often increases after heavy rains in the area. Because of that, training in the Seine for upcoming triathlon events was canceled for a second straight day Monday.

Both the men’s and women’s races are currently scheduled for Wednesday morning, with Friday remaining as a backup date. “We are quite confident the race will happen tomorrow,” World Triathlon CEO Marisol Casad said.

If the race is postponed again Wednesday, organizers say, they could switch to a duathlon and drop the swimming leg entirely.

More than $1.5 billion has been spent trying to clean up the river, and officials have backed its condition by publicly swimming in it. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo swam the Seine in June and promised to put a pool in it after the Games. One of the adjustments made to the river for the Games was a rainwater storage basin, which can hold more than 40 million liters of rainwater and wastewater from hitting the river, according to the city of Paris. 

The individual triathlon races are scheduled to start with a 1.5-kilometer swim through the river, followed by a 40K bike race—in which the course runs through the Champs-Élysées—before ending with a 10K run through the city. 

This developing news story has been updated.