Alex Yee and the run of his life to gold at Paris 2024: "Just one of those magic moments"
When Alex Yee took the lead of the men’s individual triathlon at Paris 2024 with 400m to go, even he could not quite believe it.
Having trailed Hayden Wilde of New Zealand for most of the run leg, Yee overtook his opponent and friend in the final minute of the race, crossing the line on the Pont Alexandre III to become Olympic champion.
A remarkable achievement in testing circumstances with the race postponed to one of the hottest days of Paris 2024, but it did not matter for the Team GB triathlete.
“I'm not really sure myself, to be honest,” Yee tells Olympics.com on how he managed it, “it was just one of those magic moments where you hear about these Olympic moments and people finding extra stuff within themselves. It was just one of those where I just decided that I was going to give myself one last chance just to do it.
“If I did that, then I gave myself a shot. And if I come 10th, that's fine. If I come last, that's fine. I guess it went beyond my wildest dreams.”
Alex Yee and the run of his life
No one could doubt Yee’s running prowess – as a young athlete he ran a 5km distance faster than British four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah – and he certainly maintained that belief when chasing Wilde for gold on the streets of the French capital.
Yee was heading for consecutive silver medals in the Olympic men’s triathlon, though with a far superior time than what he recorded three years earlier at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
But that inner determination and support from the crowd, including from back-to-back Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee on the sidelines, gave him that extra push.
“Just at that time, honestly, I couldn’t run with [Hayden Wilde],” Yee explains. “He was just running really well, I was probably going through a little bit of a bad patch, having felt strong all day for the swim and the bike. With every race, especially triathlon, you go through a bit of a bad patch. For me it was just all about riding that bad patch.
“With 2.5km I feel my body coming back to me and I just said, ‘Just don't give up on this and give it one more go'.”
Yee pushed past Wilde into the lead, did not look back, and won his second Olympic gold medal in stunning style, almost two minutes quicker than his Tokyo time.
Alex Yee of Great Britain celebrates his gold medal in the Paris 2024 men's triathlon.
Yee, keeping calm and carrying himself to gold
Having won two medals on his Olympic debut in Tokyo, the 26-year-old from Lewisham in London came into Paris 2024 with important experience but added expectations.
Then again, watching the way Yee composed himself to push until the end made it clear that he was more in control than he was three years ago.
Comparing the experiences in Tokyo and Paris, Yee explains, “To have the initial Tokyo Games where I felt like I was almost quite fortunate that I had that transitionary period where I felt quite nervous. Obviously, there was not as much crowd, so that allowed me to keep calm and control my nerves.”
It is no surprise that he is extra fond of his Parisian performance, going one step further to take gold and being able to do so with his loved ones present.
He continues, “To be able to go into this one with a little bit of expectation, admittedly, and all my friends and family around was really special, to be able to deliver that. I think it's probably one of the most beautiful venues we've ever done the triathlon and probably the Olympic Games has ever seen. This is super special.”
Yee returns home with two new Olympic medals for the collection, after also winning bronze in the mixed relay with his GB teammates, five days after his individual gold.
In true British fashion, Yee kept calm, carried on, and left as an Olympic champion.