A taste of the Games for triathlon and para-triathlon

2023-08-17 11:52:45

From August 17 to 20, 2023, the organization of triathlon and para-triathlon test events will allow participants to enjoy the courses of the Paris 2024 Games imagined in the heart of one of the most famous urban settings in the world. , with the Seine as a central element. For the organizers and the authorities, this will be an opportunity to test the system planned for next year.

View of the floating pontoon set up below the Pont Alexandre III in Paris for the triathlon and para-triathlon test events, Wednesday August 16, 2023 (Credits – Rich Lam / Paris 2024)

A few days after the failure of the open water swimming test, the Seine is this time at the rendezvous for what represents neither more nor less than a dress rehearsal before the arrival, in the summer of 2024, of the best triathletes and para-triathletes of the world.

This Wednesday – in anticipation of the planned test events – the training had already allowed the competitors to soak up the atmosphere around the setting chosen for the competitions, starting with the Parisian river which constitutes the component of the aquatic part, the adjacent cobbled thoroughfares of the French capital being delimited as the scene of the cycling and running sections.

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Today, Thursday August 17, the 65 female triathletes registered at the start of the World Triathlon Olympic Test Event Paris were the first to set off, a little less than a year before the Olympic event on July 31, 2024.

From 08:00, the latter thus plunged into the Seine from the floating pontoon arranged below the Pont Alexandre III, in order to reach the surroundings of the Pont de l’Alma, then to return against the current to the starting point, passing under the Pont des Invalides, against the current inevitably adding difficulty to swimming in an urban environment.

After the course of this first distance of 1,500 meters – a loop of 910 meters and another of 590 meters – the competitors successively held the distances of cycling (40 kilometers, or 7 laps of 5.715 kilometers) and running. (10 kilometres, i.e. 4 laps of 2.5 kilometres), passing in particular in front of the Petit and Grand Palais, then by the Champs-Elysées before gradually returning to the banks of the Seine.

This Friday, it will be the turn of the male triathletes to compete in and around the river, like the participants in fine selected for the Games on July 30, 2024.

(Credits – Paris 2024)

For the coming weekend, Saturday August 19 will be devoted to para-triathlon.

As with the triathletes, the participants will then take the same route as that which will be deployed during the Summer Games next year, on September 1 and 02, 2024.

Para-triathletes will be divided into the six categories recognized by World Triathlon, i.e. categories PTS2 to PTS5 (standing – physical or neurological disability with use of regular bikes or time trial bikes)PTWC categories (wheelchairs – lower limb disability or spinal cord injury requiring the use of a handcycle for the cycling part and a wheelchair for the athletics part)and the PTVI category (visually impaired).

The swimming course will have a loop of 750 meters in the Seine, always starting from the monumental Pont Alexandre III.

At the level of the transition zone, the para-athletes will reach the Quai d’Orsay from an accessible ramp near the Pont de l’Alma. After a junction of 1,500 meters to reach the Pont Alexandre III, the competitors will have to complete 5 laps of 3.7 kilometers, i.e. overall and cumulatively, a distance of 20 kilometers.

After this para-cycling section, competitors will cross a new transition zone to complete the 5-kilometre race course, with a 1,200-metre junction, via the Cours de la Reine and the Pont de la Concorde, then two loops of 1,900 meters which will take them from the Quai d’Orsay to the Pont Alexandre III via the Boulevard Saint-Germain.

(Credits – Paris 2024)

Finally, this Sunday August 20, the Parisian meeting of World Triathlon will end with the holding of the mixed relay event, with a start given at 08:00 in the morning, and a sequence of swimming-cycling-running with teams of four athletes (man, woman, man, woman).

As on August 05, 2024, the route will partly resume the system set up for the individual events, with an identical urban setting, but modulated distances.

After a 300-meter swimming course, the triathletes will set off on the 5.8 kilometer road cycling course, i.e. 2 laps of 2.9 kilometers, which will cross Avenue Winston with the Grand and the Petit Palais. on either side, Avenue des Champs-Elysées, as far as the roundabout bearing the same name, before descending towards the Seine via Avenue Montaigne and Rue François Ier.

The running course will be delimited by a 1.8 kilometer route, i.e. 2 laps of 900 meters.

(Credits – Paris 2024)

For the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Games (OCOG) and for World Triathlon, but also for the local and national authorities, the major challenge of this week of tests is to gauge the site’s ability to respond and, if necessary, to adapt to technical requirements.

In addition to the sporting dimension, marked in particular by the installation of the floating pontoon and the transition zones, the stakeholders will also take advantage of the event to test – in a reduced version – the running of the events in the presence of spectators along the Seine. . In fact, while two temporary stands will be set up next year, offering a capacity of 1,000 and 2,000 seats respectively – not counting the spectators scheduled on the paved route – the device installed this week near the river is accessible to a few 800 people.

The configuration adopted for the triathlon and para-triathlon test events is also an opportunity to implement an initial organizational plan with the help of 500 volunteers already selected by Paris 2024.

Of course, the logistical dimension cannot be complete without considering the security devoted to the smooth running of the event. Also, nearly 400 police officers will be mobilized daily until Sunday, again with a view to testing the installation of sporting events in a dense urban environment, with the additional management of traffic restrictions and detour perimeters .

As summed up in this sense Magali Charbonneau, Prefect, Director of Cabinet of the Prefect of Police:

The holding of this test event allows, beyond the organization in terms of security but also the circulation of a major sporting event in the heart of Paris, to test the perfect coordination and inter-reactivity between the different partners who will have to work together next year, for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.