World Aquatics Championships: E. coli bacteria to blame for postponed Sentosa open water race
"We don't know why this is the case because testing has been very sound and solid along the way," said World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki.
The venue for open water swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships near Sentosa's Palawan Beach on Jul 7, 2025. (File photo: CNA/Syamil Sapari)
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SINGAPORE: E. coli bacteria levels that exceeded acceptable standards were to blame for the postponement of the World Aquatics Championships women's open water 10km race at Sentosa, said World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki on Tuesday (Jul 15).
Speaking to reporters at Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Nowicki said that the source of this has yet to be ascertained.
Water tests were conducted on Sunday, with the results coming back late on Monday evening.
"Those tests showed exceeding levels of E. coli ... We don't know why that is the case because testing has been very sound and solid along the way," he said.
"I'm speculating, but it appears to be a single, isolated incident that happened somewhere on Saturday or Sunday that caused the spike to happen prior to that test taking place."
E. coli are bacteria normally found in the intestines of people and animals. Common symptoms of ingesting a pathogenic strain of E. coli include vomiting and diarrhoea.
Mr Nowicki said that World Aquatics adheres to “acceptable limits” set by the World Health Organization and that tests are outsourced to “outside testing agencies” to ensure their rigour and independence.
He said that further water tests were done early Tuesday morning, and races will proceed on Wednesday morning should preliminary results be acceptable.
But if the preliminary results are not satisfactory, a secondary test will be conducted later on Tuesday, and races could be held on Wednesday afternoon should standards be met.
"It's happened in prior World Championships and we built in contingencies for that. In our schedule, there are contingencies that are built in that take into account that something may happen along the way. This is just one of those things that could have happened, that was a risk we had to take," Mr Nowicki added.
"We're prepared to accept that risk and continue to push on with the event, testing the water, making sure it meets our standards and we're confident that the water quality will come back to the acceptable levels (and) the competition will continue."
He added that tests conducted in the weeks and months leading up to the event had shown results within "acceptable limits".
"We wish there was a remedy to this but there is no magic wand we can put over the course. We just are in wait-and-see mode," said Mr Nowicki.
"We're trying to best identify how and where the source of E. coli can come from ... Try to localise it as much as possible and then take alternative measures to assess the situation."
Hours before the event was due to begin on Tuesday, it was announced that the race would be postponed as water quality levels failed to meet "acceptable thresholds", organisers said.
In a press release in the early hours of Tuesday, World Aquatics announced that the decision was made in the "utmost interest of athlete safety".
The race, which was planned for 8am on Tuesday, is now scheduled for 10.15am on Wednesday. Singapore Olympian Chantal Liew and youngster Kate Ona were scheduled to compete in the race.
The decision followed a review involving representatives from World Aquatics, the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee, the World Aquatics Sports Medicine Committee and the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Technical Committee, said World Aquatics.
"While testing in recent days has consistently shown water quality at the venue to meet World Aquatics’ acceptable thresholds, analysis of samples taken on Jul 13 surpassed these thresholds," said the sport's governing body in a press release.
"The decision to postpone racing was made in the best interests of athlete health and safety, which remains World Aquatics and the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee's top priority."
National head coach Gary Tan said he and his athletes were informed of the postponement at about 11.45pm on Monday.
“Our team promptly communicated the update to the affected athletes and worked with them on next steps,” he said.
Mr Tan, who is also the performance director of swimming at Singapore Aquatics, said postponements were not uncommon in international open water swimming competitions.
“Our athletes are well accustomed to managing such changes. They remain in good spirits, and while the race will now take place at a later time slot, they have trained under similar conditions and are well prepared to adapt.”
At last year's Paris Olympics, pollution in the Seine after heavy rains caused the men's triathlon race to be postponed for a day, after swimming practice sessions were cancelled two days in a row.
There are plans in place should contamination levels continue to exceed acceptable standards, said Mr Nowicki.
"We have a variety of different options that we can use in so far as locations that we'll look at. It could be in Sentosa, it could not be in Sentosa. It's not something that we're planning right now," he added.
"So it's bit premature to talk about alternative sites on or off Sentosa."
Sentosa is the venue for the high diving and open water swimming events at the Championships, which began late last week with water polo group stage matches.
While there has been much star power on show at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, some of the water polo matches have seen poor attendance.
The Championships feature six sports - swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving. They will be held until Aug 3.
This is the first time the sporting event has been hosted by a Southeast Asian nation.
