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Alex Yee

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Alex Yee
MBE
Yee racing at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Personal information
Full nameAlexander Amos Yee[1]
Born (1998-02-18) 18 February 1998 (age 26)[2]
Lewisham, London, England, UK
Chinese name
Chinese余力生[3]
Medal record
Men's triathlon
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2020 Tokyo Mixed relay
Gold medal – first place 2024 Paris Individual
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Individual
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Mixed relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2024 Elite
Silver medal – second place 2022 Elite
Bronze medal – third place 2021 Elite
World Sprint Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Hamburg Elite
Gold medal – first place 2022 Montréal Elite
Silver medal – second place 2022 Montréal Mixed Relay
Esports World Triathon Championship
Gold medal – first place 2022 Arena Games Series Elite
Representing  England
Men's triathlon
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Triathlon
Gold medal – first place 2022 Birmingham Mixed relay

Alexander Amos Yee MBE (born 18 February 1998) is a British professional triathlete and distance runner. He is the 2024 World and Olympic champion in standard or 'Olympic' distance triathlon, the second man to win both titles in a single year.

He won the gold medal in the Men's Triathlon at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the silver medal in the same event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the gold medal in the Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and the bronze medal in the same event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. With two golds, one silver, and one bronze medal, Yee is the most successful triathlete in Olympic history.

Yee was also the 2022 Commonwealth Games triathlon champion in both the men's and mixed team events. In addition to his overall victory in 2024, he is a double World Championship medalist over the World Triathlon Championship Series, with silver in 2022, and bronze in 2021.

In 2022, Yee won his first individual World Championship, the 2022 World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Montreal in Canada. Yee has also been part of the gold medal-winning relay team in the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships in Nottingham in 2019. He won silver in the same event in Montreal, securing Great Britain its first quota places in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In non-traditional formats, Yee was the winner of the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series.[4] In 2022, he became the inaugural Esport Triathlon World Champion, after finishing second at both the London and the Singapore Arena Games Triathlon event.[5]

As a distance runner, Yee was the 2018 British 10,000m champion, and led Great Britain to the team silver medal in the European 10,000m Cup as both races were combined as part of the Night of 10,000m PBs festival event at Parliament Hill. He represented Great Britain in the subsequent European Athletics Championships.

Early life and education

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Alexander Amos Yee was born on 18 February 1998, to a Mozambique-born Chinese father,[6] Ron Yee[7] and English mother, Emma Amos Yee.[8] He was raised in Lewisham London. Alex Yee studied at Stillness Infant School and Stillness Junior School for his primary education in Honor Oak Park.[9] He studied at Kingsdale Foundation School in West Dulwich and then went on to study for a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Leeds Beckett University.[10][11]

Career

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2016–2019

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On 4 June 2016 Yee won the ITU World Junior Duathlon Championships in Avilés in northern Spain.[12] As a result, he was shortlisted for the SportsAid "One to Watch" award[13] which he went on to win, receiving his award from Sir Mo Farah at the ceremony in November.[14]

At the ITU Triathlon World Cup race in Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy on 4 June 2017, Yee tangled with another competitor on the bike and crashed into a concrete bollard, suffering broken ribs and vertebrae and a pneumothorax (collapsed lung).[15] On 19 May 2018 Yee set a PB (Personal Best) in the 10,000m of 27:51.94, less than five seconds outside the British under-23 record of 27:47.0 set in 1971 by Dave Bedford.[16][17][18] Earlier in the year, Yee set the then second quickest ever Parkrun time, clocking 13:57 at Dulwich.[19]

Yee started his 2018 triathlon season off with a 6th place at the Gran Canaria ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup, following this with an 8th place at the Cagliari ITU World Cup, returning to the site of his accident a year prior.[citation needed] June saw him compete at Antwerp, registering a disappointing 49th place (despite producing the fastest run split),[20] and then in September he competed in the U23 category at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Gold Coast, coming home 10th.[citation needed] Later the same month he made it onto the podium for the first and only time in 2018, taking bronze at the ITU World Cup in Weihai in China.[21]

Yee made his debut in the ITU World Triathlon Series at Abu Dhabi with a sprint-distance race on 8 March 2019. After a strong swim and bike he recorded the second-fastest 5 km run of the race to finish second to Mario Mola in a race that saw 9 DNFs.[22] In the build-up to the race, Yee confirmed his view that he was a triathlete first and foremost, despite being a nationally ranked runner, and stated his intentions to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[23] Following this he took on his first ITU World Triathlon Series Standard Distance event at Yokohama in Japan, finishing in 5th overall.[24] Later the same year, he went on to record a Gold in Nottingham in the Mixed Team relay in June in less-than-ideal weather conditions, resulting in the race being altered to a duathlon format (run, bike, run).[25] Georgia Taylor-Brown took the first leg, followed by Ben Dijkstra, Sophie Coldwell in leg 3 and Yee on the anchor leg to seal the victory ahead of Switzerland in Silver and France in Bronze.[26]

Team GB recorded a Silver two months later in the same discipline in Tokyo,[27] with Yee being beaten at the line on the final leg by Dorian Coninx representing France.[28] The line-up was altered from that fielded at Nottingham, with Jess Learmonth, Gordon Benson, Sophie Coldwell and Yee on the final leg.[29] This success followed a disappointing result in July in Hamburg where the team finished 10th overall, with the team comprising Jess Learmonth, Jonny Brownlee, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Yee on the final leg. Learmonth encountered problems on the swim, resulting in Team GB entering T1 in 15th place and unable to make up the deficit on subsequent legs.[30][31] Individually, Yee finished the season recording a 13th-place finish at the Grand Final in Lausanne in Switzerland,[32] and an overall ITU WTS ranking of 12th, recording 2521 points from 5 races.[33]

2020–2024

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On 8 August 2020, in the Podium 5 km at Barrowford, Lancashire, Yee ran 13:26 behind winner Marc Scott in 13:20, the second fastest 5 km time ever by a British athlete.[34] Later in the month, Yee ran a personal best of 7:45.81 over 3000 metres at the Bromley Twilight Meeting.[35] Yee started his 2020 race programme as one of four male GB athletes at the ITU World Cup race at Mooloolaba in Australia, recording the fastest run time of 14:55 but only achieving a 37th-place finish overall due to a mechanical prior to T2.[36][37]

Yee won the silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021, as well as a gold medal in the mixed triathlon, in which he was the competitor to cross the finish line for the team.[38] Yee was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to triathlon.[39][40] Yee won the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series.[41] He took victory in the final race of the series, held in Malibu, California, crossing the line just fractions of a second ahead of Belgium's Marten Van Riel.[42] He also took the win at the Super League Triathlon, Jersey race, earlier in the season, finishing ahead of teammate Jonathan Brownlee in the process.[43] Yee also finished second in the SLT Arena Games, Rotterdam 2021.[44]

Yee competed in Super League Triathlon's Arena Games Triathlon Powered by Zwift Esports Triathlon series in 2022. The series will go on to crown the first ever triathlon Esports World Champion.[45] At the first event of the series, held at Munich's Olympiapark, Yee finished in 6th. However, following a rule change[46] at the next event, held at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park London, Yee finished in 2nd, being narrowly beaten by Germany's Justus Nieschlag.[47] At the final event of the series, held at Marina Bay, Singapore, Yee finished in second place behind New Zealand's Hayden Wilde. However, that was enough to see him take the win in the overall series, giving him the title of inaugural Esport Triathlon World Champion.[5]

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Yee won the first gold medal of the Games by in triathlon. He emerged from the swim in 15th place, and chased down leader Hayden Wilde in the run to win his first major race of the season by 13 seconds.[48] The win came with some controversy, as it was felt that the race should have had a much closer finish, as Yee and Wilde had been running neck-and-neck in the final stages of the sprint, until Wilde was made to serve a 10-second penalty immediately before the finish for unbuckling his helmet strap before his bike had been properly racked in transition, for which "video evidence for the supposed misdemeanor remain(ed) inconclusive".[49]

Yee won a second Commonwealth Games gold in the mixed relay with Sophie Coldwell, Sam Dickinson, and Georgia Taylor-Brown. He started in the first leg of the race to give the second leg a 20-second lead, which the team held on to win the race.[50] Yee competed as a wildcard at the opening event of the 2022 Super League Triathlon championship series in London. He finished the event in 3rd, behind Matthew Hauser and Hayden Wilde.[51]

Yee won the gold medal in the triathlon at the 2024 Paris Olympics.[52] Yee also took home the bronze medal in the team relay, alongside Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sam Dickinson and Beth Potter.[53]

He was one of the Great Britain flag-bearers at the closing ceremony alongside trampoline gymnast Bryony Page.[54]

ITU World Triathlon Series Competitions

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Yee's ITU World Triathlon Series race results are:;[21]

ITU Triathlon World Cup Competitions

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Yee's ITU Triathlon World Cup Series race results are:;[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Dulwich parkrun; Dulwich parkrun". www.parkrun.org.uk.
  2. ^ "Alex Yee". British Athletics.
  3. ^ "Chinese characters" (JPG). www.alexyee.co.uk.
  4. ^ "Alex Yee Takes Super League Triathlon Championship Series With 0.2 Second Win In Malibu". Super League Triathlon. 25 September 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b Leitch, Adam (7 May 2022). "Alex Yee Continues Super League Dominance As He Takes Arena Games Triathlon World Title". Super League Triathlon. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  6. ^ "East x Southeast — an Alex Yee story". Maurten. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  7. ^ "The making of... Alex Yee | Team GB". www.teamgb.com. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  8. ^ Triathlon, World (18 October 2022). "Down the blue carpet: Episode One with Alex Yee". World Triathlon. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Alex Yee celebrated for Olympic success". Lewisham Council. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Alex Yee Award News; Kingsdale Foundation School". kingsdalefoundationschool.org.uk.
  11. ^ "Leeds Beckett Student claims silver medal in World Triathlon Series debut; Leeds Beckett University". www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk.
  12. ^ "London triathlete Alex Yee - World Junior Duathlon Champion!". www.britishtriathlon.org.
  13. ^ "SportsAid - SportsAid announces 2016 One-to-Watch Award shortlist". sportsaid.org.uk.
  14. ^ "SportsAid - Triathlete Alex Yee receives SportsAid's One-to-Watch Award from Olympic hero Mo Farah CBE". www.sportsaid.org.uk.
  15. ^ "Alex Yee suffers big bike crash at Cagliari ITU World Cup | Elite News". Tri247.com. 5 June 2017.
  16. ^ "Results". www.thepowerof10.info.
  17. ^ "Alex Yee excels in 10,000m debut". Athletics Weekly. 19 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  18. ^ "UK All-Time Lists: Under 23 Men". gbrathletics.com. 31 December 2006. Archived from the original on 23 February 2002. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Alex Yee clocks second-quickest ever parkrun". 29 December 2018.
  20. ^ "Summer Cook wins, Beth Potter second at Antwerp ITU World Cup". Tri247.com. 17 June 2018.
  21. ^ a b c Triathlon, World. "World Triathlon". World Triathlon.
  22. ^ "Results: Elite Men - 2019 Daman World Triathlon Abu Dhabi". World Triathlon Championship Series.
  23. ^ "Yee eyes Olympics spot in triathlon rather than switch to athletics". www.shropshirestar.com. 5 March 2019.
  24. ^ "Brownlee & Coldwell win in Cagliari". BBC Sport.
  25. ^ "Triathlon - Nottingham Mixed Relay". BBC Sport. 14 June 2019.
  26. ^ "GB win Nottingham Mixed Relay". BBC Sport.
  27. ^ Triathlon, World. "Results: Mixed Relay 2019 ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Tokyo". World Triathlon.
  28. ^ "Watch: GB pipped in thrilling triathlon photo-finish". BBC Sport.
  29. ^ "Catch-up: World Triathlon Olympic Test Event - Mixed Relay Race". BBC Sport. 16 August 2019.
  30. ^ Triathlon, World. "Results: Mixed Relay 2019 Hamburg ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships". World Triathlon.
  31. ^ "Britain battle back as France defend title". www.britishtriathlon.org.
  32. ^ Triathlon, World. "Results: Elite Men 2019 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne". World Triathlon.
  33. ^ "2019". World Triathlon Championship Series.
  34. ^ "UKresults and UKtimers - Race Results Service - Results for Podium 5k Elite Male Race, Barrowford, Lancashire held on 8th August 2020". www.ukresults.net.
  35. ^ "6 - Male 3000". data.opentrack.run.
  36. ^ Triathlon, World. "Results: Elite Men | 2020 Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup". World Triathlon.
  37. ^ "Vicky Holland, Ryan Sissons secure Mooloolaba ITU World Cup victories". Tri247.com. 14 March 2020.
  38. ^ "GB's Yee wins triathlon silver in Tokyo". BBC Sport.
  39. ^ "New Years Honours List - United Kingdom". The London Gazette (Supplement). No. 63571. 1 January 2022. p. N26.
  40. ^ "New Year Honours 2022: Jason Kenny receives a knighthood and Laura Kenny made a dame". BBC Sport. 31 December 2021.
  41. ^ "Disbelief for Alex Yee after 'amazing' Super League triumph". TRI247. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  42. ^ "Super League Triathlon - Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown secure double British triumphs after Malibu finale". Eurosport UK. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  43. ^ Slowtwitch.com. "SLT Jersey: Yee, Brownlee Finish in Frantic Sprint; Learmonth Earns Three-Peat". Slowtwitch.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  44. ^ "SLT Arena Games Rotterdam 2021 » Super League Triathlon". Super League Triathlon. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  45. ^ "World Triathlon & Super League to Launch Esports World Championship". Super League Triathlon. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  46. ^ "Zwift Drafting Change Set To Shift The Dynamics at Arena Games Triathlon London". Super League Triathlon. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  47. ^ "Justus Nieschlag Powers to Arena Games London Title". Super League Triathlon. 23 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  48. ^ Carayol, Tumaini (29 July 2022). "England's Alex Yee wins first gold medal of Commonwealth Games in triathlon". The Guardian.
  49. ^ Heming, Tim (2 August 2022). "Why Does A 10-Second Penalty Make So Much Of A Difference In World Triathlon Races?". Triathlete.
  50. ^ Majendie, Matt (31 July 2022). "Yee seals second gold as Team England win mixed team triathlon". Evening Standard.
  51. ^ Powell, Megan (4 September 2022). "Wilde Beats Yee In London Again As He Opens Championship Series With A Win". Super League Triathlon. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  52. ^ "Alex Yee wins Olympic triathlon gold for Team GB in Paris after Beth Potter's bronze". BBC Sport. 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  53. ^ "Olympics triathlon: Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sam Dickinson and Beth Potter take bronze in mixed team relay". BBC Sport. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  54. ^ "Bryony Page and Alex Yee MBE named Team GB's flagbearers for Paris 2024 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony". Team GB. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
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