World Aquatics Championships' open water races at Sentosa to proceed after 'significant improvement' in water quality

The World Aquatics Championships open water races will proceed as scheduled after a "significant improvement" in water quality at Sentosa, said organisers in a statement on Wednesday (July 16) morning.

They stated that water quality tests conducted on Tuesday evening showed levels of E. coli falling between the ranges of "good" to "excellent" according to World Aquatics regulations, allowing the races to resume.

The men's and women's 10km open water swimming events will now kick off at 1pm and 4pm respectively, following a postponement announced late on Tuesday due to inadequate water quality.

"Regular water quality monitoring and testing continues throughout the competition period to ensure athlete safety, with the health and safety of all participants continuing to guide all competition-related decisions," said the organisers.

Water quality concerns

Sentosa is the venue for the high diving and open water swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships, which are being held in Singapore for the first time.

The first open water swimming event, the women's 10km open water race, had been initially scheduled for Tuesday at 8am and was postponed twice as water quality failed to meet "acceptable thresholds".

World Aquatics' executive director Brent Nowicki said that the race postponement was caused by levels of E. coli bacteria in the waters exceeding "acceptable limits", reported CNA on Tuesday.

Nowicki also said that the contamination seems to be an isolated incident, as testing prior to the event yielded results within "acceptable limits".

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'Exceeding acceptable thresholds': World Aquatics event at Sentosa postponed over poor water quality

dana.leong@asiaone.com

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