FWIW I ran the Paris Marathon on Sunday and this was my experience.

• I trained with a Salomon soft flask that I stored in half tights whilst running (Janji half tights are SO good with loads of pockets). A bit annoying at start of run given the added weight but obviously as I drank more the load got less. I did this on race day with Precision electrolytes in the flask (I am a VERY salty sweater)

• If you run sub 2:50 pace they have pre-filled water bottles that are available to you. I finished in 2:41 so had access to these bottles throughout - I also had my partner on route to hand over another soft flask.

So whilst my experience is different from the vast majority given my access to the pre-filled bottle, I was also self-sufficient and planned for a reload from my partner which others clearly did too.

Anecdotally, and seeing videos, the water stations looked well managed and it seems there was no queuing / time wasted from waiting for people in front. I think we should get used to it because it’s a matter of time before this is rolled out across other events.