The Paris Olympics organisers have canceled the swim training session for the triathlon mixed relay event due to suboptimal water quality in the Seine River following heavy rain. The swimming portion of the familiarization sessions for the mixed relay was called off on Saturday morning after tests revealed suboptimal conditions.
Earlier in the week, both individual events proceeded despite disruptions. The men’s race was postponed by a day and eventually took place after the women’s event on Wednesday. Before that, swim training sessions had been canceled twice due to safety concerns. Heavy rain recently prompted the decision to cancel Saturday’s familiarization session, scheduled for 8 AM local time, ahead of Monday’s event. An official statement from the organizers read: “At the daily meeting to review water quality held today (Friday) at 19:30, a decision was made to cancel the swim leg of the triathlon familiarization, which was due to be held on August 3rd at 8:00.”
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The bike and run familiarizations proceeded as planned. The statement further noted: “Given the heavy rain over the last two nights, particularly upstream of Paris, and the expected decline in water quality, we have preemptively decided to cancel the swim familiarization on Saturday, August 3rd. Considering that conditions are unlikely to improve before the daily situation meeting scheduled for Saturday, August 3rd, at 4:00, we opted to cancel the swim familiarization tonight to prevent late communication to athletes. More updates on the water quality will be provided on August 3rd.”
The mixed relay event, first introduced in Tokyo three years ago, involves four competitors completing a sprint triathlon as part of a team. In the women’s event on Wednesday, Cassandre Beaugrand secured a home gold for France, while a dramatic comeback saw Alex Yee of Great Britain win gold in the men’s event.
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