Competitors dive into the Seine at the start of the Women's Individual Triathlon on July 31.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
Nobody’s skin turned green, and no one appeared to get sick, at least not from the water.
After one postponement and many weeks of worry about water pollution, the triathlon competition finally got under way at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday morning with 110 athletes in the women’s and men’s events plunging into the Seine from a platform near the Pont Alexandre III for the 1,500-metre swim.
The athletes weren’t sure the races would take place until four hours before the start of the women’s event at 8 a.m. local time. Organizers had postponed the men’s race Tuesday and cancelled all practice sessions in the river on Monday and Sunday because E. coli bacteria levels were above the allowable limit.
Overnight showers raised concerns that there might be another postponement or even cancellation of the swimming legs, turning the event into a duathlon of cycling and running. Persistent rainfall this spring and last weekend had overwhelmed treatment centres and allowed contaminated water to run off into the river.
Further testing from samples taken Tuesday showed that E. coli levels had fallen to between 488 and 770 colony-forming units per 100 millilitres of water, below the 1,000 CFU per 100 millilitres threshold set by the sport’s governing body, World Triathlon. As a result, the association gave the go-ahead early Wednesday for both events. “We will swim,” World Triathlon declared on X.
Competitors swim in the Seine during the Women's Individual Triathlon.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
The layout of the course offered spectacular views of the city, and organizers had faced questions about whether they had put aesthetics above the safety of the athletes by sticking to their plan to use the Seine as a venue. But officials insisted that the health of competitors had always been paramount.
The swimming legs consisted of two laps in the river between Pont Alexandre and the Pont des Invalides, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The 40-kilometre cycling course involved seven circuits through the streets of central Paris, including some slippery cobblestone sections early in the day that caused several crashes in the women’s race. The 10-kilometre run covered part of the same route for four laps.
In the women’s race, France’s Cassandre Beaugrand pulled ahead in the last lap of the running leg to win gold, sending the thousands of fans who lined the route into a frenzy. Julie Derron of Switzerland finished second and Beth Potter of Britain took bronze.
The men’s race looked to be locked up by Hayden Wilde of New Zealand, who had a 15-second lead over Britain’s Alex Yee heading into the final running lap. But with just a few hundred metres to go, Yee surged ahead and finished first by six seconds. France’s Léo Bergere took bronze.
Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk finished ninth, followed by fellow Canadian Charles Paquet in 13th. Emy Legault was 35th in the women’s race.
When it came to swimming in the Seine, the bigger issue for many athletes wasn’t the pollution but the current. They had it behind them in the first lap, and it was so strong that many athletes overshot the buoy to turn around.
“I was actually not that well placed, but everybody came so fast to the first buoy that they went way over, and I was able to, like, cut in,” Legault said after the race. When everyone began heading back under the Pont des Invalides, “that was carnage, because there’s a lot more current under the bridge,” she added. “And then everybody stops, and everybody fights. So that was probably the toughest place on the course.”
The current “was crazy,” Mislawchuk said. “I basically had to stop at the buoy – and I still overshot it. The current was insane. I mean, you see on TV, and it definitely changed the dynamic.”
Seth Rider of the U.S., who finished 29th, joked that he hoped the water was all right. “Hopefully I can handle some E. coli because I think I swallowed so much water out there and probably everyone did.”
He too said the current added to the usual frenetic nature of triathlon. “There was just a lot of fighting, and then with the current pushing people around, you know, you’re going to the edge, then you’re going back.”
France had the best day by far at the event, and the country is quickly becoming a dominant force in triathlon. Along with medals for Beaugrand and Bergere, Pierre le Corre and Emma Lombardi came fourth in the men’s race and women’s race respectively.
For Beaugrand, winning gold at a home Olympics was something she’d only dreamt about, but the pressure to do well was intense. “I threw up this morning right before the start. I was in a total panic,” she said.
But she had no doubts about the water. “I wasn’t very worried about the Seine River because we swam last year and no one was sick after that. So I was confident with the swim today. And it would have been a shame if we didn’t do it for our sport.”