Alex Yee justifies selection with silver medal on Olympic debut
ALEX Yee’s rapid rise to the top of triathlon brought him a silver medal on his Olympic debut in Tokyo, and with the promise of much more to come in the future.
The 23-year-old, who is based in Loughborough, was looking to follow in the footsteps of Alistair Brownlee by making it three successive British golds at the Games but it was Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt who proved the strongest on the run at Odaiba Marine Park.
Jonny Brownlee, who was bidding for a medal at a third successive Olympics having won bronze in London and silver in Rio, had to settle for fifth.
Yee is the fastest pure runner in the history of triathlon but over the past couple of years he has proved himself capable of living with the best on the swim and bike as well, making him a formidable competitor.
After standing on the podium to receive his medal, Yee said: “It hasn’t really sunk in quite yet, it doesn’t feel quite real that it’s me yet.
“I still feel like I’m a child of the sport, I’m going into every race trying to learn things. If I can carry on improving my swim then I can be a bit higher up and be in the race every time and that’s the goal for me, just to become the complete athlete rather than be winning everything, and fame and money.”
The race started at 6.30am to avoid the worst of the heat and humidity but there were farcical scenes as a boat blocked half of the competitors when the gun went off and the other half had to be stopped and escorted back to the pontoon for a restart.
French double world champion Vincent Luis led the way after the 1.5 kilometres swim, with Brownlee in a nine-strong lead group on the bike and Yee heading the chasers 30 seconds down.
By the fourth lap of the 40km, the two groups were together, meaning the medals would come down to who was the stronger on the 10km run.
Burly Blummenfelt, his kit soaked in sweat and virtually transparent, made the first move on the third lap, pulling Yee, whose career was nearly ended by a serious bike crash in 2017, and Hayden Wilde of New Zealand away from the rest.
The Norwegian then kicked for home with around a kilometre to go and, although Yee tried to chase him down, he had to admit defeat and settle for silver.
He said: “I think I probably timed it a little bit wrong, leaving it a little bit too late to close the gap to Kristian.
“Once I’d got halfway across it I think I was pretty cooked. I was starting to feel the heat. I had a really good heat strategy and I felt really comfortable up until that point but Kristian was the better man on the day.”
Yee’s silver made Britain the most successful nation in Olympic triathlon with six medals so far, and the trio of Georgia TaylorBrown, Vicky Holland and Jess Learmonth will hope to add to that in the women’s race on Tuesday.
Britain will also have a very strong chance of gold when the mixed relay makes its Olympic debut on Saturday.