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If all goes according to plan and the River Seine is deemed fit for swimming, the highly anticipated Men’s Paris Olympic Triathlon takes place tomorrow morning at 08:00 local time in France, thats 07:00 Irish time!  Given that the swim starts within view of the Eiffel tower, let’s take a quick look at the course before we look at some of the top medal contenders.

The Olympic triathlon gets underway right in the heart of Paris at the Pont Alexandre III bridge. Athletes will take to the pontoon for a two lap swim in the Seine. The first lap of 910m before an aussie exit and a second lap of 590m.

Pontoon position is chosen by athletes in the order of their Olympic Ranking.  The draw took place yesterday to decide who will start where on the pontoon for the 55 men on the start list, you can see the results of the draw HERE.

As expected the top ten chose positions to get them the most direct line to the first buoy whilst also hoping to receive a boost from the current in the opening downstream efforts, before turning back into it to complete the lap.

Completing the swim, athletes will exit the water for the second time,  take a right turn and have to race up over 30 stone steps onto the Ponte Alexandre III for their first time through transition.

The 7 lap bike course, whilst relatively flat and expected to be “fast and flowy” by some of those who took on the test event in 2023, is covered in cobbles for over 25% of the lap, adding to the toll on arms and legs, as well as adding another dimension to athlete planning in terms of tyre choice and pressures.

The run course is also cobbled in parts with a subtle incline each lap and is expected to be a super fast course, watch out for the run times!

Medal Potential

Let’s start with the obvious, the defending Olympic Champion.  Whilst Kristian Blummenfelt dominated the Tokyo Olympics and had the most successful 18 months the sport has seen after winning Gold in 2021, his last visit to the podium was in Bergen in 2022, will he be able to do the double this year and take home the gold medal?

Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde, who took silver and bronze in Tokyo are two athletes in strong contention to fight for the top spot. Yee won the test event in Paris in 2023 and has been a consistent visitor to the podium at WTCS level since the Tokyo Games. Wilde has had similarly strong results since the Tokyo Games despite a DNF at the Paris test event last year.

It’s a home Games for the French podium contenders, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre are the current World Ranked 1 and 2. They are joined by Dorian Coninx the current World Champion, who out raced both of them at the Paris test event last year for the final podium spot. With three athletes in the field, the French could decide to focus on securing a home Gold by racing together throughout the swim and bike sections to keep one athlete as fresh as possible for the run. However, with strength as well as depth, they may end up with more than one athlete on the podium and with the home crowd expected to be out in force to cheer on their athletes there is no doubt the French athletes will be going all in for a 1, 2, 3 on the podium.

Belgian athlete Marten Van Riel has been 4th at two consecutive Olympic Games and will be looking to step up onto the podium this time around. His teammate Jelle Geens will also be hoping to make a mark on the race, having missed the individual race in 2021 due to a positive COVID test.

Australia’s Matt Hauser appears to be coming into form in perfect time for Paris, having boasted an exceptional Olympic cycle’s worth of racing to move himself into 4th in the World Triathlon Rankings.

Vasco Vilaca from Portugal lacks the level of experience of some of his competitors, however he’s shown he is definitely capable of racing with the best, taking home 2nd in the Paris test event, along with a 21 podiums and 9 wins from 58 starts.

Finally, Morgan Pearson from the USA is another athlete who can’t be ruled out of a podium position, having shown consistent form over the Olympic distance at WTCS level this season.

Whatever the outcome on the day, there is no doubt that the men’s race will serve up some very exciting swim, bike and run action. Check out the full list of athletes vying for Olympic Gold on Tuesday on the link HERE.

The final water test will take place at 03:30 local time ( 02:30 Irish time)on Tuesday morning to confirm whether the event will take place as scheduled. There are currently two contingency days on the 1st and 2nd of August should tomorrow morning’s water quality not be deemed of high enough standards. However, officials remain confident that the event will go ahead as planned.