Suspense Over Olympics Triathlon As River Seine Fails Water Tests Again

Olympic organisers cancelled a second day of triathlon training in the River Seine on Monday due to water pollution, increasing uncertainty over whether the men's and women's races will go ahead as scheduled in the coming days. The men's race is set to take place on Tuesday morning, with organisers set to make a last-minute decision when they have reviewed the latest laboratory results overnight. The waterway is still polluted after heavy rain storms on Friday during the opening ceremony in Paris and again on Saturday, which led to discharges of raw sewage.

In a joint statement, Paris 2024 organisers and World Triathlon said they had taken the decision to cancel Monday's swimming training session because "water quality levels... do not present sufficient guarantees" to allow it to take place.

They added, however, that they remained "confident" that pollution would drop before the start of competition given the current bright, sunny weather which helps keep bacteria levels down.

If the men's triathlon does take place tomorrow it will be in high-temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), while a threat of storms has emerged that could have an impact on the women's race which is scheduled for Wednesday.

Christophe Calas, a weather forecaster based at the Paris 2024 organising committee, told reporters on Monday that storms were moving towards Paris from central France and could hit on Tuesday evening.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty on their trajectory, their intensity. We can't say anything for certain," added Calas, who works for the French national forecaster Meteo France.

"If there's a storm over Paris tomorrow night that results in significant amounts of precipitation that would have an impact