Alex Yee’s journey to the pinnacle of short-course triathlon is now complete – he is the reigning Olympic and World champion after an incredible 2024 season, and now a crossover household name in the British sporting landscape.
On Sunday morning in London he will cross over into a new sport when he makes running his thing in the 2025 London Marathon. Quite the way to cap an incredible 12 months for this brilliantly talented young man.
The past four years have been a meteoric rise for 27-year-old Alex, who went from virtual unknown to one of the most loved and recognised sporting stars in the UK.
By the age of just 23, Yee had already highlighted his spectacular credentials when he became a double Olympic medallist at Tokyo 2020 – cementing his status as one of triathlon’s rising stars. Three years later he would confirm that potential by claiming individual gold and Mixed Relay bronze at Paris 2024, and completing his WTCS domination by being crowned World Champion as well.
Faster than Mo Farah
Born in Lewisham in London on February 18, 1998, Alex was a talented runner in his youth and was recording quicker times than Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah at the same age. In 2016 he was named SportAid’s prestigious One-to-Watch Award winner by Farah following his gold in the ITU World Duathlon Junior Championships and bronze at the Quarteira ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup. Yee, who ran in the 10,000m at the 2018 European Championships, decided to concentrate on his triathlon career – having been encouraged by his dad Ron.
Alex studied for his ‘A’ Levels at Kingsdale Foundation School in West Dulwich, before going on to study Sport and Exercise Science at Leeds Beckett University. He is a member of Crystal Palace Triathletes and Kent AC.
In 2017, Yee was involved in a horrific bike crash at the 2017 ITU World Cup in Cagliari, Italy. As a result, he suffered broken ribs, vertebrae and a punctured lung, spending four weeks in hospital. He has spoken since about how he used this experience as an opportunity to reflect, regather his thoughts and inspire him to come back stronger than ever.
Yee’s achievements were recognised in the New Year Honours List on December 31, 2021 – when he was awarded an MBE.
Now his fame is reaching new heights – he was crowned the SJA Sportsman of the Year for 2024, and also made the shortlist for the iconic BBC SPOTY (Sports Personality Of The Year) award.
Paris Olympics in 2024
Yee arrived in France last July as favourite to claim gold in the men’s individual event, and he duly delivered in spectacular style – but not without a significant scare.
Alex was right in the thick of things coming off the bike on Wednesday July 31, 2024 – but when great rival Hayden Wilde surged clear on the run there were alarm bells ringing all around Great Britain. Yee was not done however, and late in the day he managed to conjure one final spectacular sprint as Wilde started to wilt in the brutal Paris heat.
Yee would pass Wilde in the closing stages, leaving the Kiwi agonisingly with silver as he sprinted clear for a memorable victory. It was one of the all-time great Olympic moments, and the picture of the pair sat on the blue carpet sharing the moment will live long in the memory.
Five days later Alex led off the Great Britain bid for Mixed Relay gold, but it was a bid which ended in agonisingly close defeat. The team were just pipped by Germany and the United States in an epic sprint to the finish, but still claimed a highly credible bronze medal.
The result meant Alex is now the most decorated Olympic triathlete of all time, with two golds as well as a silver and a bronze. Surpassing even the great Alistair Brownlee.
Yee ended an epic Games for him and triathlon by being named as one of Great Britain’s flagbearers for the closing ceremony at th
Career record and results
Yee’s breakthrough performance came at the 2021 AJ Bell World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds, where he secured a hugely popular and impressive victory at Roundhay Park. Alex also collected the Maurice Lacroix World Triathlon Championship Series Ranking Leaders trophy. His strong running ability shone during the race when he produced a magnificent 10km, going solo for the final three laps as he beat the likes of Kristian Blummenfelt, Hayden Wilde and Jonny Brownlee with an overall time of 1:43:27.
Afterwards Yee said that win was the most relaxed he had ever been during a race – drowning out all the external and internal pressures – as he confirmed his contender status in triathlon as well as making his Olympic selection a fait accompli.
Alex had won his first ITU Triathlon World Cup at Cape Town in 2019 and followed this up with an impressive second place during his WTS debut in Abu Dhabi. It was a fantastic introduction for the young Englishman, finishing only seconds behind Mario Mola. However, despite these back-to-back results, Yee did not believe he was worthy of racing the likes of three-time ITU World Champion Mola until a fifth-place finish at 2019 ITU Yokohama. He finished the race in the Japanese city with a time of 1:43:57, just 36 seconds behind winner Vincent Luis. He finished his 2019 season with an overall ITU WTS ranking of 12th.
In 2021, Yee won both Olympic medals as well as the Super League Triathlon Championship Series, whilst also finishing third overall in the WTCS rankings, with his best result coming with his win in Leeds.
In 2022, Yee was seen as one of the favourites for the world title heading into the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi, following wins at Yokohama, Montreal and Cagliari, but faded to fourth in the final race to finish just twenty points shy of Leo Bergere and miss out on what would have been his first World Series title.
However, Yee can take some consolation from the fact that he finished 2022 as a double Commonwealth Games champion, after winning the individual and mixed team relay events in Birmingham in August 2022.
In 2023, Yee once again started the Grand Final in Pontevedra as a heavy favourite to take the WTCS title, having won back-to-back WTCS races in Abu Dhabi and Cagliari, before finishing third at WTCS Hamburg and clinching Olympic selection with a win at the Paris Test Event in August.
Unfortunately, a poor swim saw the Brit on the back foot from the off, and he was unable to recover, finishing way down the field in 30th, as Frenchman Dorian Coninx clinched the world title. This result saw him slip off the overall podium and finish the season as WTCS #5.
Putting his failure behind him, Yee started 2024 strongly, with a statement win at WTCS Cagliari followed up with a comfortable victory at the Europe Triathlon Cup Kitzbuhel as he put the finishing touches to his Paris Olympic Games preparations. Then, of course, we know what happened on that iconic course in the French capital as he ran down Hayden Wilde for an epic success (more on that to come).
Alex followed up that Olympic success by claiming the other title which had so far eluded him – that of World Triathlon Champion. After starting the year with that superb success in Cagliari, and then winning in Paris, Alex produced another incredible performance to destroy his rivals at WTCS Weihai. Those performances put him in pole position for the Grand Final in Torremolinos in October. He duly claimed the world title by clinching a podium finish in an epic finale to the season.
Alex has also enjoyed plenty of success in mixed relay events as well. He has been part of teams to finish on podiums at the 2019 Accenture World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Nottingham, 2020 Hamburg ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships and then most famously at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2022, Yee won the Commonwealth mixed relay gold alongside Sophie Coldwell, Samuel Dickinson and Georgia Taylor-Brown. Then came that bronze at Paris 2024.
Behind a great athlete, a great family
Alex credits his father Ron Yee as one of the key reasons for his introduction to the sport. Ron, an architect and university lecturer, himself competed in some duathlon races and Alex used to go with him to races when he was six or seven years old.
A few years later, when Crystal Palace Triathletes held their first ever junior session, Ron took young Alex along and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
Far from any ‘pushy parents’ stereotypes, level-headed Alex credits his family for helping make him the young man he is today.
“I think that comes from my parents’ support – there was never any difference being picked up from a really good race or a bad one, they loved me just as much. That’s a great thing, I could step away from the sport and be loved just as much, and that’s a massive perspective to remember as a junior athlete.”
