The triathlon tests delivered Olympic tickets and the Seine turned on the alarms again

Less than two weeks after it failed to offer the guarantees for the open-water World Cup events, the Seine regained its composure and had sporting activity with a view to Paris 2024, albeit half-heartedly. The most iconic river in France and home to the opening ceremony was provided as the first stage in two of the four triathlon events, which distributed rankings for the next Olympic Games.

Of the tests that fans were able to watch without paying a ticket between Thursday, August 17th and Sunday, August 20th, the men’s singles were the one that best combined emotions and surprises. “It was relentless from the start,” 25-year-old Briton Alex Yee, second in Tokyo 2021, acknowledged his golden performance after winning at 01:41:02 with 13 seconds ahead of Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca and Frenchman Dorian Connix, who staged a very vibrant final sprint. All three qualified for Paris 2024, as did Morgan Pearson, from the United States, in sixth place.

The current Olympic champion only finished ninth: Kristian Blummenfelt completed his participation 40 seconds later than Yee. Nor did the current world and local champion Léo Bergere, who finished in fifth place, shine. New Zealander and favorite Hayden Wilde and French two-time world champion Vincent Luis, bronze medalists in Tokyo, were forced to leave in the middle of the competition. In addition to not being able to qualify for the Olympic Games, they also did not score important points in the race to the World Championship title.

The English accent also had the first test, the female one, which was left in the hands of Beth Potter. The current leader of the World Championship Series embittered France’s Cassandre Beaugrand. Despite leading the swimming stage, she finished six seconds after Potter. After the race, she was disappointed with her decisive sprint. Germany’s Laura Lindelmann and Nina Eim, third and sixth, respectively, also sealed their Olympic spot.

Lindelmann’s greatest joy, however, blossomed on the final day when she won the mixed relay event for Germany together with Lisa Tertsch, Jonas Chomburg and Tim Hellwig. Great Britain and Belgium completed the podium of a test that, like the Paralympic one, lacked swimming because the water of the Seine did not exceed the samples of three tests. The organization explained that water filtration and drainage systems are still under development: “We are a quarter of the way there,” said Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera. The cause of the degradation has not yet been found and it has been ruled out that they were the strong storms that overflowed the sewers, as was believed.

The water in the Seine will continue to be on everyone’s lips throughout the next year. In this regard, Beaugrand said after the first day of competition: “We are used to bathing in much worse waters”. Bergere also defended the organization: “I didn’t hear the athletes coming out sick,” she slipped. On the eve of the tests, Christophe Rosa, deputy delegate of the Paris City Council, had referred to “very robust monitoring” with “daily laboratory tests” to “guarantee the best conditions” for athletes. World Triathlon anticipated that “in the unlikely event that the requirements are not met” a duathlon format will be implemented again.

Triathlon makes up the roster of Olympic disciplines with identical routes and standard distance for both individual events: both men’s and women’s races are born under the Alexander III bridge and end on it, and during the 1.5 kilometers of swimming, 40 kilometers of cycling and 10 kilometers of running on foot they cross traditional Parisian points such as the Champs-Elysées. The test circuit was the same as the one on which they will compete in the Games.

In Paris 2024, the men’s individual event will be held on Tuesday, July 30 from 8:00 (France time) and the women’s event on Wednesday 31 starting at the same time. In each one, 55 triathletes will seek Olympic glory. The mixed team competition will be held on Monday, August 5, also starting at 8.00, and will have 18 representatives, each composed of two men and two women.