OLYMPIC triathlon at the Paris 2024 Games has hit a major roadblock after a practice event was cancelled.
The first triathlon event is due to take place on July 30.
However, concerns over the water quality of the river Seine has seen a pre-race practice event scrapped.
Organisers had scheduled a session in the river at 8am on Sunday morning to help athletes familiarise themselves with the swimming leg of the event.
But a meeting involving representatives of World Triathlon and city and regional authorities decided to scrap the practice event following the results of water quality tests carried out on Saturday.
A statement said: "The tests carried out in the Seine yesterday revealed water quality levels that in the view of the international federation, World Triathlon, did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held.
"This is due to rain that has fallen on Paris on 26 and 27 July.
"Given the weather forecast for the next 48 hours, Paris 2024 and World Triathlon are confident that water quality will return to below limits before the start for of the triathlon competitions."
Swimming in the river has been banned for over a century due to poor water quality.
A staggering $1.5 billion (£1.2bn) has been invested to prepare the Seine for these Olympics and ensure water quality was good enough to stage events including the swimming leg of the triathlon and marathon swimming event.
Tests carried out in early June determined there were unsafe levels of E.coli bacteria, though this was followed by more recent improvements.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a dip in the river two weeks before the start of the Olympics in a bid to show the Seine was clean enough to host swimming competitions.
More to follow.
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