Swimming in Singapore: “Really annoying”: dirty water causes trouble at World Cup

The dirty sea causes a lot of trouble and discussions at the swimming World Cup. “This is really annoying. What is expected of us here is simply not okay,” said the German open -water swimmer Lea Boy. Her race was postponed for the second time on Tuesday evening (local time) due to poor water quality in Singapore.

The first shift in the middle of the night from Monday to Tuesday (local time) and just seven hours before the originally planned start had not only overturned the actual daily schedule for the German team. She had also caused significant criticism. “I can’t understand why such a message is only published so late in the night,” said national coach Bernd Berkhahn. It didn’t get much better. Again, everyone involved had to wait a long time.

The first postponement tears German swimmers out of sleep

Finally, the World Aquatics’ World Aquatics informed the teams that the water quality on the Palawan Beach was still not acceptable. This time Florian Wellbrock, Oliver Klemet and her competitors are also affected.

The new plan provides for men to start the men on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. CEST (1 p.m. local time) and the women at 10 a.m. CEST (4:00 p.m. local time). Further test results in the early Wednesday morning (local time) should show whether the 10-kilometer races are actually carried out.

Boy and Jeannette Spiwoks tore the first postponement of their competition, which was actually scheduled for 8:00 a.m. and then on Wednesday at 10.15 a.m.

Training takes place in the pool

“We woke up at 2.30 a.m. this night because my cell phone rang several times,” said Boy. “Then unfortunately we found out that it was canceled, our alarm clocks agreed and slept for a few hours.” Training in the Pool of the Nexus International School replaced swimming in the sea.

As early as Monday, athletes trained on the Palawan Beach lined with palm trees, the water did not look good. Bottles and other plastic waste drove in the cloudy broth. With a view of numerous anchoring cargo ships, athletes scratch through the wavy water in front of the Southeast Asian metropolis.

The reason for the first postponement surprised Boy, which has already won twice World Cup gold in team competitions. It was clear that the water is not really clean. “But we were actually not so aware that the water quality is so bad,” said the 25-year-old.

Association Board: Shifts from Olympics are used to

Water samples are intended to ensure that limit values are observed and protect the health of the athletes.

“If the water quality is wrong, there cannot be a race,” Christian Hansmann, board member of competitive sports, was quoted by the association magazine of the German Swimming Association after the first shift. “When swimming open water, a start always depends on the external circumstances. We are used to such shifts from the Olympic Games in Paris last year and know how to deal with it.”

At the Olympics, numerous athletes had health problems

In fact, dirty water is not a new topic in open water swimming. There have also been problems in the past. The fact that after the 2024 Olympics in France, however, there are difficulties again at the highlight of the season of the swimmers is more than unhappy.

In the summer games of Paris, the water quality in which its organizers had great problems. In the triathletes, she had a direct impact on the competition plan. In addition, swimming and triathlon training in the river had been canceled. After their races, numerous swimmers had complained about health problems.