Tokyo 2020 paratriathlon test shortened due to bad water quality

The swimming section of a paratriathlon test event for Tokyo 2020 was cancelled Saturday due to high levels of bacteria in the water, the latest in a series of difficulties over water quality and temperature.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) shelved the swimming leg after tests showed levels of e-coli more than double the acceptable standard.

The 70 paratriathletes instead competed in a "duathlon" format with two runs and a bike race.

It was the most recent disappointment at a test event for Tokyo 2020 organisers, after the women's triathlon run was also cut short due to extreme heat in the Japanese capital.

Despite this, French triathlete Cassandre Beaugrand was taken to hospital with suspected heatstroke.

Around a dozen competitors and spectators fell ill at a rowing test event, also due to high temperatures, as Tokyo swelters through a deadly heatwave.

"I'm so sorry for athletes that we could not prepare the competition conditions effectively," Shinichiro Otsuka, managing director of Japan's Triathlon Union, told reporters.

"It was regrettable," he said, vowing to step up preparations for Sunday's Mixed Relay, the last in the four-day competition.

Former British paralympic triathlete Clare Cunningham tweeted that staging a duathlon was "a completely different race" that "puts some athletes at a huge disadvantage racing in their tri classification."