Swimming World Championships — Open water swimming events set to go ahead after delay

Open water swimming at the World Championships is set to start a day late following two delays in Singapore because of “water quality levels exceeding acceptable thresholds.”

World Aquatics and local organisers issued a statement Wednesday saying the women’s and men’s 10-kilometre events would start in the afternoon.

Organisers said analysis of water quality samples collected late Tuesday met standards for the competition to begin.

The men’s 10-kilometre event is set to start as scheduled on Wednesday at 1 p.m. local time (0500 GMT). The women’s 10-kilometre event, which was initially scheduled to open the program on Tuesday and then rescheduled for Wednesday morning, will follow the men’s race.

Other open water events are scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Local organisers said three samples taken along the competition course at Sentosa, near the Singapore Strait, at 5 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) Tuesday showed “significant improvement, with levels of E. coli falling between the ranges of ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ according to World Aquatics regulations.”

Open water swimming was an issue in last year’s Olympics in Paris with concerns about water quality in the Seine River. It was also an issue at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Water polo competition at the World Championships is underway at an indoor venue.

The main event of the championships is eight days of swimming competition in the pool, which opens on July 27.