Alternative swim venue announced for Paris Olympics, but what about the bike and run course?

There’s finally more clarity on a possible alternative swimming venue for the Olympics, should the water quality of the Seine not be up to par at the end of this month/beginning of August. Despite a billion-dollar investment to improve the water quality, it’s not working very well so far, so that’s why there’s a alternative location announced just today.

Should the water quality of the Seine not be sufficient, the open-water swimming events could take place in Vaires-sur-Marne, just outside the city of Paris. “To guarantee that it will go on, we decided to set up a reserve site. The place is already used for rowing and canoe races and meets all the necessary requirements for this type of event,” the organization said.

Open-water swimmers thus do not seem to need to worry, as they can always divert to this alternative location. The situation is logistically different for triathletes, as the current swim location is geared towards the connecting bike and run course, so another swim location logistically presents many more challenges or – perhaps more realistically – problems.

That’s why the organization today pointed for the first time to a duathlon format as a possible alternative.