World Aquatics Cancels Practice Session in River Seine Despite ‘Good’ Test Results

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / NOC San Marino / Deepbluemedia

World Aquatics Cancels Practice Session in River Seine Despite ‘Good’ Test Results

World Aquatics on Tuesday canceled a practice session in the River Seine due to water quality concerns, casting further doubt on the marathon swim of the Paris Olympics being able to be held there.

The decision was made at 4 a.m. for a practice and “familiarization” session due to start at 7:30 Paris time. Water quality results showed E. coli levels in the river testing from “good” to “very good” on Aug. 5, but levels exceeded World Aquatics thresholds when tested during the morning review. The latest samples from Aug. 4 also showed elevated levels.

From World Aquatics Press release:

Laboratory analysis of the Seine’s Enterococci levels for 5 August was available at 11:00 a.m. today. These most recent Enterococci results demonstrate an improvement in the Seine’s water quality, but one of the four tests still did not meet acceptable World Aquatics water quality standards.

The women’s 10-kilometer will be held on Aug. 8, with the men a day later, both starting at Pont Alexandre III. World Aquatics has a second familiarization session set for the morning of Aug. 7, with a decision to be made in the early morning hours. The organization touted a “favorable weather forecast” for the remaining days, and the Seine has been clean enough to allow the men’s, women’s and mixed triathlon events to occur, albeit with slight alterations in the schedule.

At least one swimmers had ill effects from the triathlon, forcing a withdrawal from the team event. It’s likely that, so as not to risk such problems, many swimmers will eschew the practice session to limit their exposure to the River to race day. Marathon swimmers will be in the water for around two hours, much longer than the triathletes. Unlike triathlon, however, open swimming can occur at a separate venue if the Seine is not suitable.

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