Test events for open water swimming, triathlon and Paratriathlon are to be held in the River Seine next month ©Getty Images

Paris and Île-de-France Prefect Marc Guillaume has pledged that the water quality in the River Seine will be "above the standards required" by the International Olympic Committee and Paris 2024 Organising Committee when the river is used for marathon swimming and triathlon Olympic test events next month.

"We will be ready for the test events in the summer of 2023," Guillaume insisted.

The Paris leg of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup is set for August 5 and 6.

World Triathlon is also set to host a four-day test event, due to begin on August 17. 

Individual races will take place on the first two days to be followed by Para triathlon on August 19 and mixed relays on August 20.

The River Seine is set to be used for marathon swimming, triathlon and Paratriathlon at Paris 2024 ©IOC
The River Seine is set to be used for marathon swimming, triathlon and Paratriathlon at Paris 2024 ©IOC

All events will count for Olympic or Paralympic qualification.

Testing of water quality will be carried out throughout the test events which are to take place beneath the Pont Alexandre III.

Individual triathlon competition at the Olympics is scheduled for July 30 and 31 2024, with the mixed team event set to take place on August 5.

Marathon swimming is scheduled for August 8 and 9 2024.

At the Paralympics, the Paratriathlon events are planned on September 1 and 2.

Open water swimming and triathlon events are set to take place close to the Pont Alexandre III ©Getty Images
Open water swimming and triathlon events are set to take place close to the Pont Alexandre III ©Getty Images

The use of the Seine had been proposed by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo when the city was bidding for the Games in 2017.

It prompted state investment of €700 million (£599 million/$762 million) and rapidly became emblematic as a legacy benefit of the Games.

After the Olympics there are plans to open three sites for open water swimming on the river in 2025.

"There is a strong expectation from Parisians," Guillaume told French sports daily L’Equipe.

"The question after the Games will no longer be the quality of the water but the compatibility with the other activities on the Seine and the Marne."

When the Olympics were first held in Paris in 1900, eight swimming events took place in the waters of the Seine including an obstacle race.