Swimming training for the mixed triathlon relay was cancelled this Saturday due to the deterioration of the water quality in the Seine in recent days, but the Paris2024 organisation expects the race to take place on Monday.
“Given the heavy rainfall over the last two nights, which was particularly intense upstream of Paris, and the associated expected deterioration in water quality, it has been decided in advance to cancel the familiarisation swim scheduled for Saturday,” Paris2024 said in a statement released today.
According to the note, and given that “it is unlikely that conditions will improve” before the daily update scheduled for 04:00 local time (03:00 Lisbon), the decision was made on Friday evening to avoid late communication with triathletes.
Despite the cancellation of the new training session, the President of the Organising Committee, Toni Estangue, appeared “serene” on Saturday about the holding of the mixed relay, in which Portugal will be represented by Vasco Vilasa, Ricardo Batista, Maria Tomé and Melanie Santos.
“There is no reason to think that this will not happen. We have a window until Tuesday,” he recalled, noting that “the weather forecast for this weekend is more favorable.”
This week, after two cancelled training sessions in Seine, the men’s race, in which Portugal’s Vasco Vilas and Ricardo Batista were fifth and sixth respectively, was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due to unsuitable conditions in Seine.
Although there was no rain this morning, there were storms in Paris the previous two nights, meaning the water quality in the river in the French capital has deteriorated.
The Seine will also be the stage for open water swimming, with the women’s race, featuring Portugal’s Angelique Andre, and the men’s competition scheduled for August 8 and 9 respectively.