PARIS (AP) — Water quality The Seine River remains There was concern on Monday when officials cancelled the swimming portion of the Olympic triathlon training session for the second day in a row.

Event organisers overseeing the Paris Games are optimistic that triathletes will be able to swim in the city’s famous waterway when the competition begins on Tuesday. The sport’s governing body, World Triathlon, and its medical team, along with city officials, are banking on sunny weather and warmer temperatures over the next 36 hours to improve water quality and bring it below the limits needed to stage the swimming portion of a race that also includes cycling and running.

World Triathlon decided early on Monday to cancel swimming training after a meeting on water quality. Representatives from Paris 2024 and triathlon’s international federation said tests carried out on the Seine on Sunday showed that water quality levels in the lead up to the training session “do not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held”. The panel said this was due to recent Rain affected opening ceremony on Friday.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned for more than a century, largely because of poor water quality. Organisers have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to prepare the river ahead of the Olympics. In addition to the triathlon swimming dock on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Seine will be used for marathon swimming races on August 8 and 9.

Daily water quality tests in early June showed unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria, which has since improved. Some of the measures being taken to improve water quality include: construction of a giant basin Collecting excess rainwater and preventing wastewater from flowing into the river, renewing sewer infrastructure and improving wastewater treatment facilities.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the river less than two weeks before the start of the Olympic events, fulfilling her promise to show the long-polluted waterway was clean enough to host swimming events.

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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback contributed to this report.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games