Olympic marathon swim on track despite water quality concerns

A practice session for Olympic marathon swimmers will take place in the Seine on Wednesday as the river’s contamination issues continue to make headlines.

The swim test was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but organisers pushed it back a day due to concerns over water quality in the Seine.

Authorities hope that sunny weather and rising temperatures in Paris will reduce E. coli and other bacteria levels to safe limits.

Fluctuating bacteria levels threaten multiple events

The notoriously polluted waterway around the French capital has presented ongoing challenges due to inconsistent bacteria levels during the Games.

Relevant authorities met earlier in the week and confirmed that bacteria levels were within acceptable limits.

The women’s marathon swim will take place on Thursday, followed by the men’s race on Friday.

The triathlon mixed relay took place in the Seine on Monday.

Subsequent water quality tests conducted by World Triathlon revealed that E. coli and enterococci levels within the triathlon course were within acceptable limits during the event.

Organisers confident of water quality ahead of marathon swimming events

Organisers expressed confidence that the marathon swimming events would go ahead as planned in the Seine, citing a favourable weather forecast and positive predictions.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who famously took a swim in the Seine last month to quell contamination fears, also believes the water quality will not hinder the scheduled events.

“We will, of course, wait to get the results of the water quality, but the event will take place because there’s been a clear improvement of the weather these past few days,” Hidalgo said.

“So, I’m really proud and happy and to all those who want to continue saying it’s impossible to depollute a river, I tell them, ‘Yes, it’s possible, we did it.’”

Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky is a +200 favourite with Bovada in the men’s event, while Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands is paying +185 to win the women’s race.

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