‘Lewisham to the World’.’ Alex Yee’s Instagram bio says it all.
Yee was present in Hyde Park for the Brownlee brothers’ success at London 2012 and has picked up the baton as the poster boy of British Triathlon.
Individual silver and team gold constituted a near-perfect Olympic debut and a blistering victory in the Paris 2024 Test Event raised expectations further still ahead of this summer’s Games.
Yee’s path to glory has not always been easy, however, notably a horrific race accident which kept him sidelined for a year.
But there has long been a feeling that he was always destined for greatness – this is why.
SWEET AND SOUR FOR ALEX YEE
Medals, prize money and ranking points are among the current motivations, but sweeter incentives used to fuel Yee.
Dad Ron competed in a few duathlons when Yee was around six-years-old and he laced up his trainers a short while later, competing for Crystal Palace Triathletes.
“We used to get chocolates,” Yee told Tri247. “I remember everyone would share their chocolates, whether they got a podium or not, and everyone would go away with something which was quite cool. Good times!”
He spent hours at his local Kent Athletics Club, located only 2km from the family home, but it took a few tough experiences for Yee to realise just how much he wanted to make good of his raw talent.
“There were definitely moments where I remember not being satisfied, wanting more from myself,” he said.
“Particularly the [British Triathlon] Performance Assessments where I actually got lapped out of the race in 2015. I remember really being disappointed with myself, wanting more and it gave me the motivation and drive.”
ALEX YEE INJURY SET-BACK
Yee’s career quickly gathered pace and he was even singled out for praise by Mo Farah after running a quicker 5km time than GB’s Super Saturday star.
He was starting to make the transition to swim, bike, run having been crowned ITU World Junior Duathlon Champion, but it was a crash at a Triathlon World Cup event which threatened to press pause on his nascent career.
Yee suffered broken ribs, vertebrae and a collapsed lung in a high-speed bike crash in which he tangled with another rider and hit a bollard in Cagliari, a matter of days before he was due to take his A-level exams.
“It made me realise that the most important thing in life is living,” said Yee, on The National Lottery’s podcast series, Amazing Starts Here. “Triathlon and A-levels consumed my life. It blew my mind that I didn’t go home to do my exams, because that had been everything I’d worked towards for two years and sport had been the biggest thing in my life from 2012 onwards.
“For me, it was the start of realising there is more to life and there are more important things. It gave me perspective on wanting to give triathlon a go.”
ALEX YEE TRIATHLON SUCCESS
Arguably, the way Yee returned to racing was the clearest indicator that he had the toughness required to challenge on the biggest stage.
On his first race back, he finished eighth at the 2018 Cagliari World Cup and there began his Tokyo tilt.
In September that same year he ran his first-ever Olympic distance triathlon, at the Under-23 World Championships in Queensland, before making his mark on the global stage in the new year with a first World Cup win in Cape Town.
But when he finished 33rd at the Tokyo Test Event, few would have predicted that he would have been the man to line up alongside Jonny Brownlee on the start line in Japan.
As it turned out, the Covid-enforced delay to the Games worked in Yee’s favour and he kicked off a spectacular 2021 with his maiden World Series race win in Leeds.
And so to Tokyo, where Yee summoned the performance of his life to win silver in the greatest show on earth. Just four days later he went one better, joining Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Brownlee at the top of the podium in the inaugural mixed relay event.
“It’s a bit bizarre, really,” Yee told the Guardian. “I’m just a normal guy from south-east London. Dreams really do come true.”
ALEX YEE AT PARIS 2024
If the Olympic cycle to Tokyo was a rollercoaster for Yee, then his path to Paris has been a whirlwind.
The 26-year-old has become an MBE, a double Commonwealth Games champion and a podcast regular.
But he remains a supremely modest and affable young man, set on chasing his next dream.
“It’s such an iconic venue that we’re racing at,” said Yee, following his selection for Paris. “We’re so lucky to be able to swim in the Seine and ride up the Champs-Elysees, which I’ve grown up dreaming about racing.
“I have great confidence in myself. And now I’ve been to the test event and raced so well on the course, hopefully I can do it again. I will throw the kitchen sink at it.”
Sportsbeat 2024