For the teams looking to make a move up the Mixed Team Relay rankings at the Paris Test Event, a late spanner has been thrown into the works.
Earlier this morning, World Triathlon announced that the race would be held as a duathlon due to water quality issues. This comes a day after the World Para Cup in Paris was also held as a duathlon because of the water quality.
The relay will now have the same 5.8km bike (two laps of 2.9km) and 1.8km second run (two laps of 900m). In lieu of the swim, the first athlete will run 900m, The rest of the relay will then complete 1.35km for the first run.
The confirmation of the relay’s status leaves a couple of open questions for the Paris Olympic Games.
Two of the four events have had to drop the swim due to water quality. The organisers and World Triathlon will be hoping that subsequent work in the next twelve months will alleviate any lingering issues. However, it is clear that there will be a risk of at least one event at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games being affected next year.
The bigger issue, however, actually comes from the races that were not cancelled.
Prior to the women’s race on 17th August, we noted that the water quality tests revealed Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Enterococci levels that exceeded those of WTCS Sunderland. Given the high rate of subsequent illness after Sunderland this was cause for concern.
The tests were taken on 14th August so there was still time for the situation to improve. On the E.coli front, a reading of 613 cfu/100ml was taken.
In the end, the women’s race proceeded as planned. The men’s race on 18th August saw a last-minute additional test take place to verify some discrepancies that emerged in the data. Shortly before the race was due to start, though, the green light was given for the swim to go ahead.
However, the water quality tests from the World Para Cup race briefing raised the question as to whether the water was really safe for the elite men and elite women.
Whereas a peak E.coli reading of 613 colonies was taken on 14th August, the peak number was 770 at 23:45 on 15th August.
Regarding the Enterococci levels, World Triathlon reported a peak reading of 99 before the elite race. In the World Para Cup race briefing, the highest reading was 125. For context, the highest reading they reported at WTCS Sunderland was 62.
Moreover, while the 14th August tests saw one site classed as “Good” instead of “Very Good” for water quality, the 15th August tests saw two of the three sites graded as only “Good”.
Thus far, it appears that there has not been a breakout of sickness.
Nevertheless, the water was not deemed safe on 19th and 20th August and the readings gave cause for concern on 14th and 15th August. When the athletes dove into the Seine to race on 17th and 18th August, then, were they really entering safe conditions?
