Chaos continues around Olympic triathlon as Belgian team pulls out of mixed relay due to sickness

Here we go again. We’ll find out tomorrow morning at 4 am here in Paris whether or not the water quality will be good enough for the mixed relay will be a triathlon or a duathlon. Saturday and Sunday’s training sessions were both cancelled due to poor water quality, which doesn’t exactly bode well.

Neither does the fact that, according to a release from  Belgium’s Olympic comittee (COIB), Claire Michel, who finished 38th in Wednesday’s individual race, has pulled out of the mixed relay due to sickness, which means that the “Belgian Hammers” will not be fielding a team tomorrow.

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The release doesn’t directly say that Michel is sick because of swimming in the Seine last Wednesday, but has some pointed words for the Games organizers.

“The COIB and Belgian Triathlon hope that lessons will be learned for the next triathlon competitions at the Olympic Games,” the statement concluded. “We are thinking here of the guarantee of training days, competition days and the format of competitions which must be clarified in advance and ensure that there is no uncertainty for the athletes, the entourage and supporters.”

There are numerous media reports that Michel is suffering from an E. coli bacterial infection.

There are also reports that the Swiss team has replaced Adrien Briffod on its team because of a “gastrointestinal infection,” but Switzerland’s Olympic chief medical officer couldn’t say with any certainty that Briffod’s infection is from the water in the Seine.

While we haven’t had rain for a few days, which was enough to allow the individual races to take place on Wednesday, the Belgian team’s (and Briffod’s) withdrawal is only going to complicate things for tomorrow’s race.

The back up day for the mixed relay is Tuesday, but one wonders if the folks from Paris 2024 and World Triathlon will be happy that they got their day in the water for the individual races and stick to the schedule and turn the event into a duathlon. That’s what happened at last year’s Test Event, won by Germany. In theory, if the water quality remains too poor for the swim, the race will be delayed 24 hours and then, if the water is still not good enough, it’ll be run as a duathlon (run/ bike/ run).

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If we do have a swim tomorrow, each team will consist of four athletes, alternating between men and women. Each athlete completes a: 300 m swim, 5.8km bike and 1.8km run

Favourites? Good question

The relay made its debut at the Tokyo Games and is certainly an exciting addition to the Olympic program. The British team took the gold medal in Paris, beating the Americans and the French to the line. Those three teams are likely to be in contention for the medals, but you can safely add last year’s Test Event champions Germany to that mix. Other teams that could vie for a podium finish include New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland.

The one team that will certainly have the crowd support, not to mention great form, is France. All four of the team members (one assumes they’ll go with this lineup!) finished in the top four last Wednesday – Cassandre Beaugrand won gold, Emma Lombardi finished fourth, Leo Bergere took the bronze, and Pierre Le Corre was also fourth.

Of course there could be lots more changes in store over the next few hours, so who knows what the racing will look like tomorrow or Tuesday.