Paris Olympics: triathlon training off over river pollution fears, Hong Kong’s Jason Ng unaffected
- Persistent rain in French capital has hit the city’s water system, but officials confident races will go ahead as planned later this week
The first training session for triathletes at the Paris Olympics has been scrapped Sunday because of pollution in the River Seine, but Hong Kong’s Jason Ng Tai-long has not been affected by the change in plans.
Persistent rain in the French capital had raised concerns over the impact on the city’s water system, and organisers had previously said they would make a decision early on Sunday morning.
After a meeting and “water quality tests”, officials said “a joint decision was taken to cancel the swimming part of the triathlon orientation”.
According to World Triathlon and the Paris 2024 organising committee the water quality “did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held”.
However, the cancellation has not derailed Ng’s plans, as his team had expected this problem to arise.
“It has caused us no issues, as we planned to swim in the pool anyway,” the Hongkonger’s coach, Andrew Wright, told the Post. “We expected [Seine training] to be cancelled after that rain.”
