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Olympic Organizers Cancel Second Day of Triathlon Training in Seine over Pollution

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to clean up the Seine. JOEL SAGET / AFP
French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to clean up the Seine. JOEL SAGET / AFP
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Olympic Organizers Cancel Second Day of Triathlon Training in Seine over Pollution

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to clean up the Seine. JOEL SAGET / AFP
French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) to clean up the Seine. JOEL SAGET / AFP

Olympic organizers canceled a second day of triathlon training in the River Seine planned for Monday after weekend downpours in Paris polluted the waterway, but said they were "confident" the medal events would be held this week.
In a joint statement, Paris 2024 organizers and World Triathlon said they had taken the decision to cancel Monday's swimming training session because "water quality levels... do not present sufficient guarantees" to allow it to take place, Agence France Presse said.
The triathlon is the first Olympic event due to be held in the Seine, before marathon swimming in the second week of the Games. A swimming training session slated for Sunday was also canceled due to the pollution levels.
The men's individual triathlon is scheduled to start on Tuesday at 8:00 am (06000 GMT), with the women's individual event to be held on Wednesday.
The quality of the Seine's water is dependent on the amount of rain that falls in and around Paris.
Heavy downpours of the sort seen on Friday during the sodden opening ceremony of the Games overwhelm the city's sewage system, leading to discharges of untreated effluent into the waterway.
The Paris 2024 organizers and World Triathlon, however, said they were "confident" that water quality would improve sufficiently before the start of competition on Tuesday, taking into account the weather forecast for the next 48 hours.
After downpours on Friday and Saturday, the sun has returned to the French capital since Sunday morning.
Due to an exceptionally wet spring and start to summer, the Seine had been consistently failing water tests until the start of July.
Levels of the E.Coli bacteria -- an indicator of fecal matter -- were sometimes 10 times higher than authorized limits.
Paris 2024 organizers have the ability to delay the outdoor swimming events by several days in the event of rain.
As a last resort, they have said they will cancel the swimming leg of the triathlon and move the marathon swimming to Vaires-sur-Marne, on the Marne river east of Paris.
French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) over the last decade to clean up the Seine.
On July 17, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine along with Paris 2024 chief organizer Tony Estanguet to demonstrate it was ready for the Olympics.

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Lackluster Gauff Dumped Out by Svitolina in Australian Open Quarters 

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina wipes her tears as she speaks with media after defeating USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 27, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina wipes her tears as she speaks with media after defeating USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 27, 2026. (AFP)
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Lackluster Gauff Dumped Out by Svitolina in Australian Open Quarters 

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina wipes her tears as she speaks with media after defeating USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 27, 2026. (AFP)
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina wipes her tears as she speaks with media after defeating USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles quarter-final match on day ten of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 27, 2026. (AFP)

Coco Gauff's bid for a third Grand Slam title went up in smoke at the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-2 defeat by ​Ukrainian Elina Svitolina on Tuesday, after the third seed endured a nightmare on serve.

The result meant 12th seed Svitolina marched into the semi-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time in her career, after three previous quarter-final finishes, keeping alive the 31-year-old's hopes of a maiden major title.

Svitolina will also return to the top 10 in the world when the updated rankings are released ‌next Monday, ‌a reward for her consistency after giving ‌birth ⁠to ​her ‌daughter with fellow tennis player Gael Monfils in late 2022.

"I'm very pleased with the tournament so far, it has always been my dream to come back here after maternity leave. It was my dream to come back into the top 10," Svitolina said.

"Unfortunately it didn't happen last year, I stopped after September and then when we were ⁠training and during off-season I told my coach 'I want to come back into top ‌10' so this was my goal for ‍this year."

Gauff's service woes came to ‍the fore early in the clash as she made five ‍double faults and was broken four times, allowing the aggressive Svitolina to take full advantage and grab the opening set in double-quick time.

Desperate to arrest her slide, the American sent a bunch of rackets to be ​re-strung for cooler conditions under the roof on Rod Laver Arena after organizers earlier invoked their extreme heat policy ⁠on a scorching afternoon.

Svitolina raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set before Gauff was able to get on board with a couple of holds, but there was no stopping the Ukrainian, who eased to victory and set up a clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka.

"It means the world to me," Svitolina said.

"I'll try to push myself, try to give myself this motivation to continue. It's been a good trip."

It was a day to forget for the frustrated Gauff, as visuals later emerged of the American smashing a racket ‌somewhere inside the venue, in what she would have thought was a private moment.

Sports

ICE Agents to Help with Security at Winter Olympics

Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Torch Relay - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - January 26, 2026 General view of the Winter Olympics flame during the torch relay. (Reuters)
Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Torch Relay - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - January 26, 2026 General view of the Winter Olympics flame during the torch relay. (Reuters)
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ICE Agents to Help with Security at Winter Olympics

Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Torch Relay - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - January 26, 2026 General view of the Winter Olympics flame during the torch relay. (Reuters)
Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics - Torch Relay - Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy - January 26, 2026 General view of the Winter Olympics flame during the torch relay. (Reuters)

Agents from the divisive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will help support US security operations for the Winter Olympic Games in Italy next month, a spokesperson told AFP.

"At the Olympics, ICE's Homeland Security Investigations is supporting the US Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organizations," the agency said in a statement.

"All security operations remain under Italian authority."

It added: "Obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries."

The potential presence of ICE agents at the February 6-22 Games has sparked huge debate in Italy, following the outcry over the deaths of two civilians during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

Italian authorities initially denied the presence of ICE and then sought to downplay any role, suggesting they would help only in security for the US delegation.

US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are attending the opening ceremony in Milan on February 6.

On Monday, the president of the northern Lombardy region, which is hosting some of the Olympic events, said their involvement would be limited to monitoring Vance and Rubio.

"It will be only in a defensive role, but I am convinced that nothing will happen," Attilio Fontana told reporters.

However, his office then issued a statement saying he did not have any information on their presence, but was responding to a hypothetical question.

Thousands of ICE agents have been deployed by President Donald Trump in various US cities to carry out a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Their actions have prompted widespread protests, and the recent killings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37, on the streets of Minneapolis sparked outrage.

Sports

Troubled Napoli Staring at Champions League Elimination Against Chelsea

Napoli's coach Antonio Conte reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match Juventus FC vs SSC Napoli a at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
Napoli's coach Antonio Conte reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match Juventus FC vs SSC Napoli a at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
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Troubled Napoli Staring at Champions League Elimination Against Chelsea

Napoli's coach Antonio Conte reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match Juventus FC vs SSC Napoli a at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, 25 January 2026. (EPA)
Napoli's coach Antonio Conte reacts during the Italian Serie A soccer match Juventus FC vs SSC Napoli a at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, 25 January 2026. (EPA)

Napoli are on the brink of being eliminated from the Champions League as the troubled Italian club face Chelsea on Wednesday racked by a deep injury crisis and a faltering Serie A title defense.

Sat just inside the elimination zone on only eight points from seven matches after last week's miserable 1-1 draw at FC Copenhagen, Napoli must beat Chelsea to scrape a place in next month's play-offs.

That will be no easy task with the Blues, Antonio Conte's former club, needing a win to stay in the top eight and bag direct qualification for the last 16.

And Napoli come into the game still stinging from a 3-0 defeat at Juventus which left the Italian champions nine points behind current Serie A leaders Inter Milan.

Sunday's loss in Turin was a big slap in the face for Napoli and Juve icon Conte, who was full of praise for his players who have had to dig deep in the face of a host injuries.

"Before today the last match we'd lost was against Udinese (on December 14). We even won the Italian Super Cup in an emergency, an emergency which has got even worse," Conte told DAZN on Sunday.

"The boys need big support from the fans... We're going through a difficult period and I expect the fans to get behind the team."

Conte's bid to become the first Napoli coach to win back-to-back Serie A titles has been hampered by physical problems in his squad right from the start of the season.

It started with Romelu Lukaku suffering a hamstring injury in pre-season which kept him out of action until the 79th minute of Sunday's loss.

- High seas -

Lukaku replaced academy graduate Antonio Vergara who played in place of Italy international Matteo Politano, while new signing Giovane made his debut as a substitute, with Conte later saying he hadn't even seen him train.

Conte has also lost giant goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to a hamstring knock while winger David Neres flew to London for ankle surgery on Monday which will likely keep the Brazilian out until April.

Kevin De Bruyne has been out since October and won't be back until the spring after surgery on his right hamstring, while another key midfielder in Andre-Frank Anguissa was supposed to be back on Sunday from another hamstring injury but was left out due to back problems.

"We know that we're navigating in open waters with very high waves but we're not getting off the boat," said Conte.

"We're still here, made stronger by the fact that we want to keep fighting with all our might even with the absurd situation that we're in.

"These boys are serious, they're giving everything and I see what they're doing, what they have to put up with, what they're risking, because let's be clear here, they're jeopardizing their physical health.

"They're playing every three days, not training, and the same players have to play high-intensity football because we don't have any chance to rotate."

The only good news for Conte is the return of Lukaku who has replaced De Bruyne in Napoli's European squad, giving the Belgium striker the chance to get back at Chelsea where he failed so miserably four years ago.

Last season 11 points was enough to avoid elimination so a win will almost certainly get Napoli through and provide some relief to a creaking team.