The Brit rounds off a spectacular season by claiming a maiden world crown at the World Triathlon Championship Finals in Andalusia, Spain
Alex Yee has added a world triathlon title to his Olympic individual gold medal.
The 26-year-old went into the race in Andalusia (October 20) 428 points ahead of Frenchman Léo Bergere and knew that a top-six finish would be enough to secure a maiden world triathlon crown.
Yee was in a strong position going into the final event of the championships as he’d already recorded wins in Cagliari (May 25) and Weihai (September 27), while his Olympic gold medal – although a non-series event – contributed to the overall points tally.
Alex Yee Secures World Triathlon Championship
That lead gave Alex Yee a significant advantage going into Andalusia and, even though he was 21 seconds off the leading pack heading into the cycle, the prospect that he’d lose the world title looked slim.
Maintaining sixth position for the majority of the race, Alex Yee kept in touch with the leading pack through the bike section.
When it came to the run there was little doubt that Alex Yee, with personal 5km and 10,000m bests of 13:26 and 27:51.94, would make up ground.
He duly did so and placed third behind Hayden Wilde and Bergere.
Alex Yee and Bergere finished on 4069 and 3728 points respectively.
“This is something which has evaded me for the last three years so makes it all the more sweeter,” said Alex Yee, who agonisingly missed out on the world title in both 2022 and 2023.
“I’m world champion and couldn’t be prouder of this season. It shows people at home with hard work anything can happen. Pressure makes diamonds so hopefully I showed that today.”
Hayden Wilde and Alex Yee (Getty)
It means that Alex Yee is now a world and Olympic champion.
At the Olympics, the Brit looked like he’d have to settle for another individual silver – Alex Yee was beaten to gold by Kristian Blummenfelt in Tokyo – but produced a late surge to overtake Wilde with just a few corners of the Parisian course left.
After crossing the line first, Alex Yee fist bumped the air and knew that he had the gold medal in the bag, winning by six seconds.
Alex Yee’s Incredible Comeback to Secure Gold
Alex Yee was working in the 30C late morning heat, 14 seconds behind his extraordinary opponent Hayden Wilde, when a ringer rang out on the Pont Alexandre III extension. It was for the last lap of the men’s triathlon and seemed like a mark of the end for his gold decoration trusts. Then, at that point, he heard four words from a recognizable voice that assisted with steering Olympic history.
“Anything can occur, mate,” yelled Alistair Brownlee, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 marathon champion, and perhaps of the savviest mind in the game. Those words dove into Alex Yee’s mind as he mined profound into his stores, retained the energy of a rambunctious group and began an uncommon fightback.
At first it was simply about stemming the dying. However, over a blisteringly last kilometer, something striking occurred. Alex Yee started a flood so unexpected that it got Wilde and the television chiefs ignorant. With 400 meters to go, he hurried past his opponent prior to extending away to require gold by six seconds in 1hr 43min 33sec.
“It’s each of the somewhat of a haze,” Alex Yee said as he battled to figure out what had simply occurred. “It was one of those frantic minutes where everything just made sense. I was in a seriously terrible spot. I was having a very difficult time. However, I didn’t surrender.”
It was Brownlee, in particular, who sowed the seed of the rebound. “With one lap to go, Alistair shared with me: ‘Anything can occur, mate.’ He yelled that out. It most certainly was a snapshot of conviction. I needed to allow myself that last opportunity. It’s exceptional when that’s what someone does.”
At the point when Alex Yee won a men’s silver decoration in Tokyo, he was non-committal when found out if he was the man to take over from the Brownlee siblings, Alistair and Jonny, at the highest point of marathon. After three years, nonetheless, the 26-year-old at last gave the most decided reply.
To exacerbate the situation for Wilde, he had no clue about that Alex Yee was shutting the hole prior to hanging on for silver in front of Léo Bergère of France. “It was excessively clearly,” he said. “The entire course I was unable to hear anything, it was fantastic. I was recently drained, I was gone, I was finished. I had nothing left and I just needed to get by to get to the end goal.”
Not long before the beginning, Alex Yee and Wilde shook hands and shared a calm word. They used to be flat mates when they were tenderfoots on the Worldwide championship circuit and had minimal expenditure between them. It was a tasteful second, particularly given they were going to slug it out for the greatest award in their game.
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