Olympic triathlon swim chances dealt further blow

Fears increased for the Olympic triathlon going ahead as planned after the familiarisation swim in the Seine was cancelled for the second day in succession this morning.

But as well as the water quality not being good enough to allow the triathletes to swim, there were further concerns over the current, because the fast flowing river also exceeded the permissible speed allowed.

With the men’s individual event due to start at 8am tomorrow, and the women’s following at the same time on Wednesday, the nightmare prospect of either a delayed event or a duathlon race is now a real possibility.

Around £1.2bn has been invested into cleaning up Paris’ main river in an ambitious project to leave a positive environmental legacy from the Games.

The final decision on the men’s race, where Britain’s Alex Yee starts as gold medal favourite, will be made at 3:30am – just 4.5hrs ahead of the scheduled start.

If the water still doesn’t meet World Triathlon’s required standards, it will initially be delayed until Friday. A decision on the women’s race will follow identical protocols on Wednesday, with the contingency day also on Friday morning.

That will be the last chance to use the Seine for the individual events. If the tests still fail it will be turned into a duathlon, with the 5km run replacing the opening 1.5km swim.

Sources on the ground, including coaches and athletes were unsure what they would wake up to tomorrow morning, with some more confident than others that the swim would go ahead.

World Triathlon believes that the increased bacteria levels and river current has peaked after the rain that saturated the opening ceremony and should be subsiding by the morning.

Olav Aleksander Bu, coach of Norwegian’s Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt, explained the challenges of a strong current for the out and back swim.

“Turning to come back upstream will feel like you’re swimming in an endless pool,” he said. “The actual speed the triathletes will be moving in against the current at its current flow will be 2:45mins per 100m. But downstream they will be going faster than 400m world record pace in the pool.”

Tim Heming Freelance triathlon journalist

About

Experienced sportswriter and journalist, Tim is a specialist in endurance sport and has been filing features for 220 for a decade. Since 2014 he has also written a monthly column tackling the divisive issues in swim, bike and run from doping to governance, Olympic selection to pro prize money and more. Over this time he has interviewed hundreds of paratriathletes and triathletes from those starting out in the sport with inspiring tales to share to multiple Olympic gold medal winners explaining how they achieved their success. As well as contributing to 220, Tim has written on triathlon for publications throughout the world, including The Times, The Telegraph and the tabloid press in the UK.