Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee remains ‘very confident’ this summer’s triathlon will go ahead as planned in Paris and has urged athletes to ignore reports it could be delayed or cancelled.
The swimming leg of the race was thrown into doubt on Wednesday when Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet admitted it could be removed if heavy rain affects water quality in the River Seine.
A recent survey by the Surfrider Foundation Europe charity warned of “alarming” bacteria levels in the Seine but Leeds star Brownlee, who claimed gold in London and Rio, believes it will be business as usual come July.
“From what I’ve heard from Paris LOCOG (local organising committee), they are very confident everything will go ahead,” said the 35-year-old. “The story relates to recent testing but none of the (preventative) measures are really coming on board until later in the year.
“The tank that’s supposed to store the overflow comes in later in the year, which I’ve heard from environmental engineers will have a big impact. Lower rainfall in the summer months will have a significant impact as well.
Mirror Football's Premier League team of 2022 as champions dominate
“Within the organising committee, World Triathlon and the IOC, there are quite significant opportunities to change stuff if they need to. I’m very confident there is going to be a triathlon on at the time it says it will be on.
“I would urge athletes to commit to preparing for the race on that day to the best of your ability and not to worry about the very small chances something could happen to that.”
Water quality in the Seine affected last year’s Paris test event, when the mixed relay was switched to a duathlon, while more than 57 competitors reported sickness after a World Triathlon Championship Series event in Sunderland last summer.
More recently, rowing’s Boat Race between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge attracted headlines due to high levels of E.Coli in the Thames, which Brownlee’s fellow British Olympic icon Helen Glover described as ‘appalling and disgraceful’.
“If we talk specifically about water quality and sewage overflow in the UK, it definitely happens,” Brownlee said. “The infrastructure costs to remove all that, I understand, are enormous. We are seeing in Paris and racing all around the world that it is a problem in many countries and is worse in many others. It’s a problem everywhere.
“Ideally, there would never be any sewage put in natural water bodies but to do that, you have to have the infrastructure to cope.”
Brownlee will battle it out against the planet's best triathletes over a 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run in Singapore on SundayAsked whether he had suffered illness as a result of water quality in the past, Brownlee replied: “Throughout my career, hundreds of races, there might have been a couple of times, I think.
"It’s very difficult to attribute directly as you can be ill from other things, food or whatever it may be."
The four-time world champion was speaking from Singapore, where this weekend he will compete in the second race on the rebranded T100 Triathlon World Tour.
Brownlee finished fifth in the opener amid searing heat in Miami and similar conditions await across the 2km swim, 80km bike and 18km run on Sunday.
Van Gerwen leaves Van den Bergh fuming as he cruises into World Darts final
“Trying to get used to hot and humid conditions as someone coming from Leeds is quite difficult,” he said.
“But I am feeling good, I have been training in Malaysia for the past 10 days and I’m definitely more prepared for this one.
“I’m happy with where I’ve been over the last few weeks and I’ll be disappointed if I’m not better than fifth.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
