World Aquatics Championships: Sentosa open water events to begin after 'significant improvement' in water quality
Water samples taken along the competition course on Tuesday evening showed E coli bacteria levels falling between the ranges of “good” to “excellent”.
The open water swimming venue for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore at Sentosa near Palawan Beach on Jul 7, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
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SINGAPORE: The World Aquatics Championships open water events will proceed on Wednesday (Jul 16) afternoon after water quality results showed "significant improvement".
In a press release on Wednesday morning, the sport's governing body said that the results from three samples taken along the competition course at 5pm on Tuesday showed the levels of E. coli bacteria falling between the ranges of "good" to "excellent" according to World Aquatics and the World Health Organization (WHO) regulations.
"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 World Aquatics.
The men's 10km race and the women's 10km race will be held at 1pm and 4pm respectively.
On Tuesday, the women’s 10km race was postponed just hours before it was set to begin, with organisers saying that the water quality levels did not meet "acceptable thresholds" as a result of an analysis of samples taken last Sunday.
The race, originally slated for 8am on Tuesday, was pushed back to Wednesday morning.
World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki said later on Tuesday afternoon that elevated levels of the E. coli bacteria were responsible for the race postponement. He added that the source of the contamination had yet to be determined.
E. coli are bacteria typically found in the intestines of humans and animals. Common symptoms of ingesting a pathogenic strain of E. coli include vomiting and diarrhoea.
Mr Nowicki said World Aquatics adheres to “acceptable limits” set by the World Health Organization and that tests are outsourced to “outside testing agencies” to ensure rigour and independence.
Tests conducted in the weeks and months leading up to the event had shown results within "acceptable limits", he added.
Later on Tuesday, World Aquatics said that water quality results had "improved", but further tests showed that levels still exceeded "acceptable thresholds" after testing conducted earlier in the day.
This meant that the men's 10km race and the women's 10km race, which were scheduled for 7.30am and 10.15am on Wednesday, were postponed, subject to acceptable test results for samples collected on Tuesday evening.
Sentosa is the venue for the high diving and open water swimming events at the Championships.
The competition features four other sports - swimming, water polo, diving and artistic swimming.
