During a meeting to review water quality on 6 August at 4am, with representatives from World Aquatics, including their Technical Delegates and Medical Delegates, Paris 2024, Météo France, DRIEAT, the City of Paris and the Prefecture of the Île-de-France Region involved in carrying out water quality tests, World Aquatics has taken the decision to cancel the marathon swimming familiarisation (athlete training) which was due to be held on 6 August July from 7.30-9.30AM.
The water quality results reviewed today at 4AM revealed E.coli levels at the four collection points on 5 August at 5-6AM were considered very good” (326, 387 and 411) for three of the collection points and “good” (517) for the remaining one.
However, confirmation of a return to acceptable levels for Enterococci could not be made by 4am on 6 August. The latest samples available and reviewed at the time, which were taken between 12.30-13.20PM on 4 August, showed that levels remained above the thresholds accepted by World Aquatics.
This decision has been taken out of an abundance of caution, given that another familiarisation swim is scheduled on 7 August. It’s important to note that marathon swimming athletes stay in the water for extended periods of time, which has also contributed to this decision.
The latest results for Enterococci which were received at 10AM today, from samples taken at 6.30AM on 05 August, show that the three of the four testing points (between 242-378) were within the thresholds set by World Aquatics, with one point coming in slightly above (436). Further results are expected later today, which will provide a more up to date overview of the water quality in the lead up to the familiarisation swim.
These results, combined with the weather forecast and forward-looking analysis, allow Paris 2024 to remain highly confident that marathon swimming competitions will go ahead as planned on 8 and 9 August.