The Open Water Swimming World Cup stop this weekend in Paris has been postponed due to substandard water quality in the River Seine caused by the city’s heaviest summer rainfall in two decades.
A training session on Friday morning was canceled and the women’s 10km race scheduled for Saturday has been pushed back until Sunday, the same day as the men’s 10km. World Aquatics said an update on water quality will be released around 5 a.m. Paris time on Sunday morning, just a couple hours before the women’s 10km is slated to begin.
“The water quality in the river Seine is still below acceptable standards for safeguarding swimmers’ health, following several days of rainfall,” the French Swimming Federation (FFN) said on Friday. “As a result, the decision has been taken, in consultation with public health authorities and event delivery partners, to modify the proposed schedule.”
The event is doubling as a test run for the Paris Olympics next summer, when swimmers will compete in the Seine for open water and triathlon events. The course features a direct view of the Eiffel Tower.
Location for the @WorldAquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup this weekend in Paris.
Swimming in the Seine with a view at the Eiffel tower.
Very cool.
Google street view: https://t.co/CgzJSN5NMd pic.twitter.com/8rXb4rsgxx
— Jeroen Lecoutere (@JLecoutere) August 4, 2023
This weekend’s races represented the fourth of five stops on the 2023 Open Water Swimming World Cup tour after previous competitions in Soma Bay (Egypt), Golfo Aranci (Italy), and Setubal (Portugal). The last World Cup races will take place in Eilat (Israel) on Dec. 1 and 2.
Paris 2024 Olympic organizers said they will be better prepared to deal with pollution in the River Seine by the time next summer rolls around. An $88 billion underground overflow basin should be ready before next summer to further prevent contamination.
Pollution issues with open water are not a new phenomenon at the Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Games in Rio, waterborne viruses were a major concern in Guanabra Bay, and at Tokyo 2020, water quality issues (as a result of pollution) in Tokyo Bay were a major storyline leading all the way up to the Games.
Ew. Nasty. How long have they known that the pollution was going to be a problem? Don’t want world-class athletes getting dysentery. This isn’t Oregon Trail.
They have spent billions on cleaning this river system up over the past 12months but reports are that due to “heavy summer rainfall” the river system has greater than acceptable levels of ecoli for athlete safety, so the event has been fully cancelled this morning Paris time. No backup venue, so no racing at all.
Looking at the positives, Paris Olympic organising committee now have not quite 12 months to prevent the same thing from happening at the world’s largest sporting event. Cold comfort for the athletes that had travelled from around the globe for today’s event however.
The actual course looks sensational and will provide one hell of a spectacle if they can actually compete on it. Feeding station will be hectic though (even more than a normal Openwater race) as it is on a very short section of the course between 2 turn bouys. Lots of people travelled a long way to compete, one can only pray for a safe and sensible outcome. 🤞🙏.
Fully cancelled due to poor water quality. 😭
Where’s the backup location for open water swimming at the Olympics next year?
The Sarno
Tahiti- where the surfing is being held….. 🙂
Must be really bad for the French to not want to swim in it.
They have spent a lot of time and money clean up and improve the water quality so it is much better than it has been in a long time, just a little more needs to be done 🙂
Most clean part of France