A trial run intended to familiarize Olympic athletes with the marathon swimming course in the River Seine was canceled on Tuesday due to concerns about water quality in the waterway of Paris.
Paris 2024 Spokesperson Anne Descamps confirmed that World Aquatics has decided to cancel the exercise.
The cancellation comes one day after the triathlon mixed relay event was held in the river that flows through the center of the French capital. The stretch of the Seine that the triathletes swam is much shorter than the course for the marathon swimming competition, for which races are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Representatives from World Triathlon and the International Olympic Committee, along with Paris Games organizers and regional and weather authorities met Sunday night to review the water tests. The results indicated that water quality at the triathlon venue had improved in recent hours and would fall within World Triathlon-imposed limits by Monday morning, they said in a statement.
In a close sprint, the Germany team won the gold medal in the team relay on Monday, while the United States took silver and Great Britain took bronze.
The plan to hold the swimming portion of the triathlon and marathon swimming events in the Seine was ambitious. Swimming in the river has been banned since 1923, with a few exceptions, because it is considered too toxic.
On Tuesday, World Triathlon released data showing that when the triathletes swam on Monday, levels of the fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci were within acceptable limits.
