Paris Olympics postpone men’s triathlon at last minute due to polluted Seine River

The men’s triathlon at the Olympics has been postponed due to polluted water in the Seine River, with last-minute tests revealing water quality levels that were “still above the acceptable limits” for Tuesday’s race to go ahead on time and leaving athletes facing uncertainty.

In an embarrassing blow to Olympics organisers, the men’s race has been postponed to immediately after the women’s event on Wednesday, which is scheduled for 8am. Both events will be subject to testing.

Paris 2024 officials remain confident that water quality levels will eventually improve to safely swim in the Seine - after spending around €1.5bn to clean up the river for the Olympics - but there are further contigency plans in place if they do not.

However, there are storm warnings on Tuesday night and rain forecast on Wednesday, with levels of pollution and harmful bacteria including E.coli in the Seine linked to the weather.

A statement said from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon said: “The tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality levels that did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.

“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.

“We will provide the athletes who are due to take part in the men’s triathlon event with all information on its postponement, as well as real-time updates on the situation.”

Organisers had expressed confidence that the men’s triathlon would go ahead despite the heavy rain that marred Friday’s opening ceremony leading to increased levels of the harmful bacteria E.coli in the Seine.

Swimming training event for the triathlon were cancelled for two consecutive days on Sunday and Monday, with levels of pollution in the Seine linked to the weather.

Around €1.5bn has been spent on wastewater infrastructure to contain sewage in an ambitious plan to clean up the river and host open-water swimming and triathlon events in a spectacular setting in the middle of the city.

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and Marc Guillaume, the top government official for the Paris region, all took a dip on 17 July to prove the Seine’s water cleanliness had improved.

But their gamble has yet to pay off, leaving athletes not knowing when they will compete. There will be further tests ahead of the women’s race on Wednesday morning and a contingency day has been reserved for Friday if water quality levels remain unsafe.

The worst-case scenario for the event would be the swimming leg scrapped altogether and the competition turned into a duathlon with cycling and running legs only.

The men’s event was scheduled to begin at 8am local time on Tuesday, with Team GB’s Alex Yee a contender for the gold medal, but a decision was made to postponed just hours before the race was due to start.

Friday’s heavy rain, which soaked athletes at the opening cermony in Paris, had a major impact with athletes unable to enter the water for the scheduled familiarisation sessions on Sunday and Monday morning due to the pollution.

Olympics organisers and World Triathlon have been aligned since the Games began, maintaining that “the priority is the health of the athletes”.