Lewisham’s Alex Yee produces dramatic late sprint to claim Olympic triathlon gold

Lewisham’s Alex Yee produced a dramatic late sprint past Hayden Wilde to secure gold in the men’s triathlon for Great Britain at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The 26-year-old was 14 seconds behind Wilde going into the final two kilometres of the run but overtook his New Zealand rival to claim GB’s fifth gold medal of the Games.

Crystal Palace fan Yee landed silver in Tokyo three years ago.

He said: “I have so much respect for Hayden and how much he made me dig there.

“He was an amazing athlete and almost two laps in I thought that silver was on the cards – but I owed it to myself to give myself one last chance.

“With about 2k to go I thought I’d give it everything I had.

“I’m just so proud that I was able to do that for my family, for everyone that’s worked hard, for my girlfriend Liv – there’s so many more people than just me who have worked towards this.

“This was our dream and I’m the lucky one who gets to do it, so thank you to them.

“I was going through a really bad patch. Many people have told me that you’re going to go through a bad patch during a race no matter how perfect or bad it is, so I just rode that wave and said ‘one more try and let’s see if we can do it’.”

Yee completed the race in 1:43:33. The triathlon consists of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run. The event in Paris had been delayed by 24 hours – with competitors only getting a few hours notice – after water quality in the River Seine was deemed unsafe.

Brockley’s Yee told BBC Sport: “I’m lost for words. I’m still just that normal guy – I work hard in my sport and I love what I’m doing.

“They [the fans] waited for a postponement, which is so easy for people who are financially challenged to go home. But they came and lined the streets – they supported me.

“They gave me a push to get to Hayden. I extracted everything out of my body.”