Fantastico! Yee’s back-to-back double triumph again in Cagliari
LOUGHBOROUGH TRIATHLETE STRIKES GOLD WITH TAYLOR-BROWN IN WTCS
ALEX Yee made it back-to-back victories and pulled off a brilliant British double with Georgia TaylorBrown at World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) Cagliari, writes Tom Harle of Sportsbeat.
Loughborough-based Yee made it two WTCS wins from two in 2023 and replicated last year’s feats in Cagliari, with Taylor-Brown getting her first gold of the season.
It means Britain have won five of the six WTCS races this year with TaylorBrown following Beth Potter (Abu Dhabi) and Loughborough University graduate Sophie Coldwell (Yokohama) in claiming victories.
Yee’s day started with a slipup on the sand of the beach start but he recovered to make the lead group and execute one of his best swims in recent memory.
A group of 24 headed into second transition after the bike leg, with Germany’s Jonas Schomburg gamely taking the early lead, soon to be reeled in by Yee and Hayden Wilde.
Yee and Wilde were side by side for the majority of the run before the British star made his move just before the blue carpet, claiming victory by five seconds.
Yee said: “It was really fun. I enjoyed being back racing, it was a real honest race from gun to tape and I’m just happy to take the win.
“I wanted to swim hard, bike hard and run hard and we did that. “I’ve always got the reputation of being a good runner but I want to be known as a triathlete, I’ve worked so hard, day in, day out on the swim and the bike. “I’m very happy with two wins, it’s shaping up to be a good season.”
In the women’s race, the swim brought contrasting fortunes for the two British athletes.
Vittoria Lopes and Summer Rappaport pushed the pace on the first lap and Potter stayed with them but lost 27 seconds on the second lap to fall out of contention.
Taylor-Brown was unable to hang with the lead group in Abu Dhabi and Yokohama and, after weeks of hard work in the water, emerged as one of six at the front of the swim.
The Olympic champion was joined by Rappaport, Lopes, Taylor Spivey, Maya Kingma and Emma Lombardi.
The bike course was a short one at only 3.8km, with ten laps giving those leaders ample scope to distance themselves from the chasers and that is exactly what they did.
They were putting eight or nine seconds into the chase group as each lap came and went, more than a minute in front as they approached the second transition. Taylor-Brown was swift in transition and then exploded clear with only Lombardi and Rappaport for company, the American quickly dropped to make it a two-way battle.
Taylor-Brown and Lombardi were then together until 300m from home when the 29-year-old broke for home and took gold on the blue carpet by 23 seconds.
She said: “It’s a massive relief and it’s really nice to be back. The swim has been my focus and in this one I was super hungry and super motivated to nail that first lap.
“I’m so used to being in that front pack (in the swim) and I really missed it. It was a shock for me. I’ve tried to keep my head focused and not worry about it too much and I’m finally back.”
Potter, meanwhile, stuck to her task and posted 32:41 for 10km, the third-fastest run time in the field, to claim a stellar sixth place.
In the men’s race, Barclay Izzard finished 25th and Jonny Brownlee came home in 34th place.
This weekend brings the European Championships to Madrid with the next WTCS stop coming at Montreal on June 24-25.
WTCS will come to the UK on the weekend of July 29-30 for AJ Bell 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series Sunderland.