Germany wins dramatic gold medal after controversial mixed relay triathlon went ahead in River Seine

By Ben Church, Thomas Schlachter and Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Despite two athletes falling ill and an ongoing controversy around water quality in the River Seine in the run-up to the race, the mixed relay triathlon went ahead on Monday with Germany securing a dramatic gold medal in Paris.

The triathlon events at this year’s Games have been a constant source of concern, with the men’s individual race being postponed a day due to poor water quality. Both the men’s and women’s races eventually got underway on Wednesday, but the fallout has continued ahead of the mixed relay.

Over the weekend, Switzerland had to mix up its roster and Belgium withdrew from the race on Sunday after athletes from both countries fell ill following the initial triathlon races last week.

Belgium announced it was dropping out of the race after Claire Michel had fallen ill but did not specify her illness, which was reported days after she swam in the river during the women’s triathlon.

The Swiss team, meanwhile, had to replace Adrien Briffod, who had to withdraw due to a gastrointestinal infection. Swiss Olympic Chief Medical Officer Hanspeter Betschart noted that it is unclear if Briffod’s infection is related to the Seine’s water quality.

Paris 2024 organizers have defended their decision to go ahead with the races and said the water quality was “very good” ahead of last week’s individual triathlon races.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Monday reiterated that the River Seine is safe to swim in.

“There are people who will continue to talk nonsense, who will continue to want to explain that it’s not true… Enough with fake news… It won’t spoil our pleasure because we know what we’ve done,” Hidalgo said while speaking to RMC Sport.

“We’re so happy that the Seine has been cleaned up, that we can swim, after all the mockery and controversy,” she said, adding that it’s time to “enjoy and realize that a decontaminated river will change our lives.”

Ongoing saga

The decision to hold some swimming events in the River Seine raised eyebrows when it was first announced. Swimming in the famous river has been illegal for a century but, in their desire to put the host city on full display, organizers worked up a plan to clean up pollution.

About $1.5 billion (1.4 billion Euros) had been spent trying to clean up the river ahead of the Games and Paris officials have made a big show of displaying its suitability.

Regardless, Australia’s team doctor told reporters Monday that the nation’s triathletes were administered medication against E. coli bacteria a month ago.

“We’ve been following the figures for a long time. So we assume that when it’s declared safe, that it is safe, but we’re also taking extra measures. And so we started by administering a medication that’s good against E. coli, which is the main bacteria in this water a month ago,” Carolyn Broderick told reporters on Monday.

Amid all the controversy, it turned out to be a brilliant race, with Germany’s Laura Lindemann helping overcome a 12-second deficit to earn her country the win.

After the race, Germany’s Lasse Lührs said that she and her teammates “trusted” the organizers to provide safe water but did criticize the “uncertainty” ahead of the races.

“We prepare a race for almost three years and then the day of the race they say, ‘No, we are racing tomorrow,’” Luehrs said. “I think some people handled it better than others.

“In our team, we trusted in the organizers that we swim in safe water and we also had no issues after the individual race. I think we don’t really expect something after this race. So, yeah, hopefully it will be fine.”

After a post-race review, Team USA was awarded a silver medal and Great Britain, bidding to defend its title won in Tokyo, picked up the bronze in a nail-biting photo finish.

Morgan Pearson, part of Team USA, said lessons about water safety levels could be learned from the experience in Paris.

“I think they could have invested more into having clean water. It seems like they kind of were just hoping for the best and know the athletes are gonna do it because it’s the Olympics,” he said.

“I think they could have invested more – maybe differently. It sounds like they invested a lot of money, but maybe, they had the wrong ideas. They need more idea people.”

The distances for the mixed relay are shorter than in individual races.

Led by men’s gold medalist Alex Yee, Team GB had looked to be in pole position, but a strong final leg from Germany’s Lindemann and USA’s Taylor Knibb made it a three-horse race.

The three were involved in a frantic sprint finish, with Lindemann just getting ahead to win Germany’s first triathlon medal in any discipline since 2008. All three women fell to the floor out of exhaustion after crossing the line.

The medalists were helped by an early crash that impacted hosts France and medal contenders New Zealand.

Men’s silver medalist Hayden Wilde and French athlete Pierre Le Corre collided during the cycling segment of the first leg and dashed their respective country’s chances of finishing on the podium. France ended up finishing fourth despite the crash.

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CNN’s Homero De La Fuente, Kevin Dotson, Kyle Feldscher, Issy Ronald and Chris Liakos contributed to this report.