Organizers cleared the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s and men’s triathlons to go ahead on Wednesday after the latest water tests on the Seine river showed lower levels of bacteria, ending days of uncertainty over whether the central Paris swim was viable after heavy rains.
The men’s triathlon had been scheduled to take place on Tuesday but was postponed until Wednesday after the river failed water quality tests.
News that the races would go ahead on Wednesday came as a relief for teams and athletes, as well as for Paris authorities who have promised residents a swimmable Seine as a long-term legacy of the Games, with the triathlon a very public test.
‘It is with great joy that we received this news,’ Benjamin Maze, technical director for France’s triathlon federation, told Reuters. ‘Now that we know we will race, we can mentally switch fully into competition mode.’
Fifty-five women representing 34 countries will kick off the contest at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) with France’s Cassandre Beaugrand and Britain’s Beth Potter, two of the top contenders for gold, set to dive into the river side by side.
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The men’s event will take place at 10:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. ET), immediately after the women’s race.
‘The results of the latest water analyses, received at 3.20 a.m., have been assessed as compliant by World Triathlon allowing for the triathlon competitions to take place,’ Paris 2024 and World Triathlon said in a statement.
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