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Poor Water Quality Puts Olympic Triathlon at Risk

Distressing Olympic water quality, fueling inspiration, and hot race prep

Author

Matthew Sharpe
June 28, 2024

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday I had a hard bike workout that looked like it was going to be a throwaway. It was a struggle to hit my goal power and the little voice started talking.

“Maybe postpone to tomorrow or even the weekend….” 

Both were appealing. But I was already on the bike, and I wasn’t injured. So, an expectation adjustment was needed. And, after putting my ego to the side and dialing back the power output, I actually had a solid workout.

Kind of crazy how a small shift can lead to a much better outcome!

In today’s edition:

  • 🚽 Poor water quality puts Olympic Triathlon at risk.

  • 🥵 The protocol to help you nail your next hot weather race.

  • 🥡 And fueling inspiration for your next great training day!

Thanks for being here.

-Matt Sharpe, newsletter editor

Headshot of Matt Sharpe

Have a triathlete in your life who can't stop swimming, biking, or running? Fire this off to them. Forwarded from a friend? Sign-up for free. 

HEADLINES

Paris Water Quality Still in Doubt as Olympics Approach

World Triathlon

What is it: Water quality tests carried out in the Seine River on June 16th showed dangerous levels of E. Coli, which, if not improved would lead to the cancellation of the Olympic Triathlon.

Praying to the weather gods: After dealing with an unseasonably wet spring that has contributed to the poor water quality, Paris officials are saying that a “summer flow” is required to successfully stage the Olympic Triathlon.

Backup plan: Although there has been talk to shift the Olympic Triathlon to Nice, there is currently no set alternative venue for the races. However, there have been “contingency days” allocated should there be heavy rains ahead of the scheduled individual and mixed-team relay triathlon events.

  • Contingency days would see the races take place 1-3 days after their originally scheduled dates.

Tempo’s take: We’ve been having a lot of folks ask about the Olympic water quality. Especially after this news and Parisian protest to poo in the Seine! (since canceled).

Every Olympics has something the media has to latch onto to drive attention. Remeber the unfinished competition venues in Athens? And who can forget the infamous Zika Virus at the Rio Olympics?

  • The Seine water quality is yet another example of the media’s pre-Olympic hyperventilation.

Of course, the water quality is an issue. And it’s honestly insane that World Triathlon didn’t push the Paris 2024 organizers to have a backup venue. Especially after races were changed to a duathlon at last year’s Olympic test event. This is World Triathlon’s Super Bowl, but it only comes once every four years!

Luckily for World Triathlon the forecast in the next couple of weeks in Paris looks warmer and mostly dry! Fingers crossed it stays that way.

Latest T100 Start Lists Show Series Getting Serious

What is it: With a month to go before the next T100 Triathlon World Tour event in London, the start lists for the men’s and women’s races have been released.

  • Both fields feature many of the world’s best athletes - finally setting the stage for the T100’s promise of the best athletes in the world competing head-to-head.

Women’s field: Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR), Ashleigh Gentle (AUS), and Paula Findlay (CAN) highlight the stacked women’s field that features 15 of the 20 T100 contracted athletes.

Men’s field: #1 world-ranked Sam Long (USA) takes on most of the T100-contracted athletes in a high-powered battle on the Thames! (it’s not there but that sounded cool).

Gold Medal Star Unwanted From National Team

Defending Olympic gold medalist Kristian Blummenfelt is just over a month out from defending his title in Paris, but the pressure isn’t only from his competition.

  • In an interview with NRK, Blummenfelt details how he has not been a part of the Norwegian National Team since 2022 and has felt “unwanted” by his federation.

In the interview, the Triathlon star mentions how financial considerations have created conflicts - supposedly leading to fellow countrymen not being able to train or sit together at mealtimes - a claim the federation denies.

FAVORITES

🥛 Milk as fuel? Lactose is a sugar that is exclusively found in milk. So if milk has sugar, can it be a good source of fuel during training? Apparently yes! This article breaks down a recent study on how your body uses lactose as an energy source and a surprising metabolic finding! [My Sports Science]

🥵 Hot race prep: If you have a hot race coming up, it might be daunting to figure out how to prepare your body to compete in the heat! This article details a top heat training protocol of the best endurance athletes in the world. The bottom line? It might be time to draw a bath! [Outside]

🥡 Fuel your day: Could your day-to-day fueling use an update? Check out this video that goes through the day in the life of eating for a pro triathlete couple. Plenty of fuelspiration inside and we’re definitely ready for the breakfast bowl! [Jenna and Miguel - Freestyle Tri]

💪 Supple shoulders: Having good shoulder mobility is critical for swimming well and staying injury-free. Here are two great exercises to keep your shoulders feeling dialed! [TrainingPeaks]

REEL TIME

A throwback to the 2016 Paralympics where Dan Snyder (USA) threw in a little Piano solo during his gold medal performance in the PTVI category!

YOU SAID

Tempo readers had A LOT to say about whether they would pay for an IRONMAN race streaming service.

Reader: I'd be more than happy to pay for the current level of coverage. I paid for Outside the last couple of years so that I didn't have to watch the US 70.3s here in Australia at silly times. But you always had to wait for the paid replay - sometimes days, which was very frustrating trying to avoid spoilers on socials! I LOVE that I can watch the replay right away on the pro series page or YouTube. And for what it's worth I think the commentary team are great.

Reader:  First you can no longer watch a replay without forking out money to outside. A lot of races are during times when you’re sleeping or not available. The commercials are too much and way too long. At least do a split screen. At this point I will only watch T100.

Reader: I would personally be willing to pay. But as a sport, if we want triathlon to grow, I believe we still need to be giving our product away for free. We need more people watching our sport and getting excited about it. And that means free viewing….probably with adverts :-(

Reader: I enjoy watching and commercials are frustrating but I’d rather have commercials with the right timing than giving more money.

Reader:  A lot of folks want these broadcasts to be free of cost AND commercial-free. You can’t have it all!

Reader: Realistically I would say that Ironman has a lot of things to improve in their broadcasts, not just wet lenses due to rain. The lopsided coverage, focused mainly on the men's race, was a true shame. The commentators spent more than 80% of the time talking about the male pros and their stories which we all know brings attention and money to those pros. I would like to see Ironman put more emphasis on educating commentators on the stories of the pros equally across men and women and focus on getting more of the women's race on the broadcast before I am willing to pay for a streaming service.

Reader: I understand the need for adverts, but timing, duration and endless breaks destroy the enjoyment. Pay more and go advert-free. Its not as though course side adverts don’t get a look in.

Reader: If Ironman moves to a pay-per-view plan, I think it’s a massive hit compared to T100. T100 already has the top athletes which can and has led to more compelling and interesting races to watch. Why would I pay money to watch a race that may be a snooze fest? I have no problem with ads during a 4+ hour race, but at least have someone control when they’re shown (not during finishes, key passes, transitions, etc) and/or use a Picture in Picture view to at least still show the race.

RACE WEEKEND

IRONMAN 70.3 Les Sables D’Ollone

Gustav Iden (NOR), Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN), and Rico Bogen (GER) highlight the ninth stop in the IRONMAN Pro Series.

Challenge Cagnes-Sur-Mer

QUICK NEWS

Supertri E: Bidding is now open for the 2025 and 2026 Supertri E World Championships. [World Triathlon]

Gala tickets on sale: Tickets are now available for the celebration of sport which is the USA Triathlon Gala. The event takes place on September 12th in conjuntion with the Age Group National Championships in Atlantic City. [USA Triathlon]

Isle of Mann tri: Entries are now open for September’s Isle of Man triathlon. The event will be held based at the Mooragh Park in Ramsey. [IOM Today]

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