Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
Rarely has an Olympic triathlon aroused as much talk, excitement and uncertainty as in Paris.
The biggest reason was the water quality of the Seine river, for the improvement of which the competition organization had spent a total of 1.4 billion euros.
On Wednesday, the bacteria concentrations in the water were found to be low enough and the triathletes were able to go, first to the swimming section in the Seine.
The Swedish debutant who took 23rd place in the women’s triathlon Tilda Manssån was embarrassed after the triathlon.
– It’s not of good quality, you can feel it. It was very brown and smelled bad. We’ll see if I get sick, Månsson said of the Seine river According to Expressen.
Månsson wondered about swimming in the Seine also because the race organizers had no back-up plan. The operation to clean the Seine River cost 1.4 billion euros.
– The men’s race was moved to today. Many of them are understandably disappointed, as they had prepared to compete yesterday. And it’s completely different conditions to compete in the middle of the day than at eight in the morning.
Swimming up to the first turn, against the current, Månsson described as “being in a washing machine”. It was really tight at one bridge.
– It was chaos. The girls just screamed.
The 20-year-old debutant quickly moved his eyes forward and stated that hopefully cleaner waters will be better in Los Angeles 2028.
The Norwegian star in the men’s race Kristian Blummenfeltthe Olympic champion of the previous games, was left in 12th place. In Nettavisen Blummenfelt dismissed the race arrangements as amateurish and the organization of the race in the Seine river as a stupid gamble.
Blummenfelt saw the Seine arrangements as a project aimed only at the fame and prestige of Paris.
– A project that literally went wrong, Blummenfelt uploaded and hoped that not many people would get sick.
Scrap rally
If swimming in the Seine received criticism, so has cycling on the slippery streets of Paris.
The cycling part of the women’s triathlon turned into a real scrap rally, when the wild-looking falls followed each other.
Some of the competitors had to stop due to falls. Germany took the top spots Laura Lindemann lost his chance for medals when he fell. For example, Luxembourg’s medal favorite had to stop Jeanne Lehair.
Sweden’s Tilda Månsson described According to Aftonbladet the cycling section as the most difficult in his career. He was about to fall many times but managed to stay upright. The turns on the cobblestones were particularly slippery.
In addition, Månsson said that there were many ponds on the course, which he thinks the organizers could have swept aside during the race.
– It was a dangerous race in many ways, Månsson marveled at the triathlon.
Rainy weather has caused challenges in cycling in the Paris Games before. For example, she led the USA in the women’s road cycling time trial Taylor Knibb crashed on a slippery curve. At the same point, several cyclists lost their balance, including Denmark Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig.
In the men’s time trial on Saturday in Australia Lucas Plapp fell and had to be operated on in the hospital. The 23-year-old Plapp had hit the obstacles so violently after his fall that his abdominal muscles had to be operated on.
The Belgian star who won the Olympic time trial gold Remco Evenepoel said according to the news agency AP, that it was nice to see the iconic landmarks of Paris along the route, but the road was miserable for the first and last five kilometers of the route.
BBC expert, former triathlete Annie Emerson wondered during the women’s race what kind of oil was on the road.
– I don’t remember a race where so many people fell.
Exciting solutions
The personal Olympic journey of triathlon consists of about 1.5 kilometers of swimming, 40 kilometers of cycling and 10 kilometers of running.
The women took a dip in the Seine at 9 o’clock Finnish time. To the delight of the home crowd, the competition was won by a 27-year-old Frenchman Cassandre Beaugrand. The winning time was 1:54.55.
Switzerland won the silver Julie Derron (1.55.01) and bronze for Britain Beth Potter (1.55.10). It is the first individual Olympic medal for all the medalists.
After the women, it was the turn of the men’s triathlon. At the end of the race, we saw a delicious struggle. The gold medal was decided just before the end, when Britain’s Alex Yee pink the New Zealander Hayden Wilden past and crossed the finish line first.
The winning time of 26-year-old Yee was 1:43:33. Wilde lost six seconds to the winner and France, who celebrated the bronze medal Leo Bergere about ten seconds.
In Tokyo, Yee celebrated gold in the mixed relay and silver in the individual distance. Wilde, on the other hand, was the bronze medalist for a personal trip in Tokyo.