PARIS — After six years, $1.5 billion, innumerable tests, cascades of protests, political grandstanding, countless prayers and hopes, multiple delays, and a thunderstorm just hours before the start … swimmers are finally in the Seine once again.
The competitors in the women’s triathlon at the 2024 Olympics went into the water at 8:00 a.m., the first time an Olympic event has been held in the Seine in 124 years. It’s also one of the first times that any swimmers at all have legally entered the picturesque but (formerly) filthy river in a century.
The race’s start — and indeed the entire swimming portion of the triathlon itself — was in doubt right up until a few hours before the event began. While Paris’ massive cleanup effort brought the Seine up to acceptably healthy levels for swimming on several occasions, heavy rainfall during the Opening Ceremony and the first day of the Olympics erased many of the cleanup gains.
Scheduled practices for the 1,500-meter swim earlier this week were canceled as a result of the rainfall, which raised contamination levels in the river. The men’s event was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday following early morning tests that found the river still contained unsafe levels of pathogens.
However, organizers hoped that heat and sunshine — both of which arrived in copious amounts on Tuesday — would be sufficient to render the river safe for swimming. Officials from the city of Paris, the Paris Olympic organizing committee, and World Triathlon all conferred and concurred on the decision to race Wednesday.
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy was first out of the water, followed by Italy’s Bianca Serigni and Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes. Kirsten Kasper was the first United States triathlete to reach dry land, starting the bike portion of the race in ninth.
The slick Paris roads following overnight rain claimed more than a few riders, but the majority of the pack remained intact and in hot pursuit of the leaders.
