Three sites will be able to welcome over 1,000 swimmers daily until August 31, local officials said, to the delight of the Parisians and visitors who were among the first to take the plunge.

The River Seine in Paris has reopened publicly to swimmers for the first time since 1923 after a century-long ban. The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is viewed as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters which were specially cleaned for the event.

Swimming in the Seine had been illegal since 1923, with a few exceptions, due to pollution and risks posed by river navigation.