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Alex Yee produced a stunning finish to emulate Alistair Brownlee as Britain’s second Olympic triathlon champion.
The 26-year-old Londoner went into the delayed race as the favourite but looked to have been beaten into silver by his big rival Hayden Wilde from New Zealand, who had a 14-second lead going into the final lap of the 10 kilometre run.
But Yee, who claimed silver in Tokyo, had kept enough in his legs and surged past Wilde in the final stages to cross the finish line first on the Pont Alexandre III.
The men’s race had been due to take place on Tuesday but was cancelled at only a few hours’ notice after water quality in the Seine was still deemed not up to scratch.
It was not confirmed that the races would be able to go ahead on Wednesday under the early hours, with the men pushed back to after the women’s race.
Organisers said samples taken showed “much lower” levels of bacteria than the threshold for the event to take place, with the hope now that the future events in the river, the triathlon mixed relay and marathon swimming, will not face such uncertainty.
Having seen his compatriot Beth Potter take bronze, Yee dived into the Seine and managed to keep in touch with the leaders, heading through the first transition in 16th place and quickly joining a big front group for the 40 kilometre bike leg around the centre of Paris.
Wilde was in the second pack so Yee tried to help drive the pace rather than sit in, but the two groups came together with three laps to go.
Sam Dickinson, making his Olympic debut for Britain, led the way onto the 10km run, with Yee well placed in fourth, and the Tokyo silver medallist soon surged into the lead as his team-mate called for crowd support.
Yee is a former British champion over 10,000m, and he sped off into the distance but Wilde refused to let him get away and put in a big effort to catch up.
The New Zealander was not content to sit with Yee, though, and quickly passed him, with the British athlete seemingly unable to respond as temperatures rose into the high 20s.
Yee settled into second, comfortably holding off France’s Leo Bergere behind him, but he had a final surprise in store as he surged to a second Olympic gold having also topped the podium as part of the mixed relay in Tokyo.
