Conjuring a comeback for the ages, and one of the most thrilling moments of the Paris Games, has given Alex Yee a thirst for chasing the extraordinary. But, it turns out, he isn’t finished yet.
“With running, I feel like I’ve never stopped scratching the itch,” the Olympic triathlon champion tells the Guardian. Then comes the revelation: Yee has signed up for the elite field of April’s London Marathon.
It speaks volumes for Yee’s bravery and sense of adventure that he is planning to shoot for the stars. “I want to give it a real go,” he says. “I know it’s a challenge doing it in a six-month window. But if the planets align, I’d love to run in the ballpark of 2hrs 7 [mins] to 2:10.”
That is a high bar given only two British athletes, Mo Farah and Emile Cairess, have run under 2:07. However, Yee has serious running pedigree. Aged 15, he finished third in the 2013 Mini London Marathon, which takes place on the last 2.6 miles of the main route, ahead of Paris 2024 marathoners Cairess and Mahamed Mahamed. At 20 he ran for Britain in the 10,000m at the 2018 European Athletics Championships, finishing 14th.
For years triathlon was his sole focus, but the prospect of competing in the world’s greatest marathon has lured him back.
“I love the impossible challenge which triathlon brings, of being the best athlete,” Yee says. “But there’s a purity about running. I love the simplicity of it. All you need is your shoes, and you’re out the door. It’s accessible to everyone. In my Instagram bio it says that I’m a triathlete/runner. And there is something about running which is special.”
Yee usually runs around 60 miles a week but to prepare for the marathon he will increase that to around 90 miles, while also swimming and cycling to keep him ticking over for the triathlon.
“The physiology is not going to be the biggest challenge – it’s the muscular endurance and the load that I’ll take throughout the marathon,” he says. “The top guys are doing 120-mile weeks, week in, week out. But I’m not going to be able to match that. So how will my legs feel when I get to 35km and when everyone says the real race starts?
“I know there’s no easy way around a marathon. I’ve got to give the distance the respect it deserves, I’ve seen a lot of amazing athletes be humbled really quickly in their first marathon. I’m well aware that could be me. But I’m preparing the best I can, and hopefully I can be part of a historic day.”
For now, though, Yee’s focus is on the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award. He admits he was delighted – and slightly astonished – to find his name on the six-strong shortlist. However, it was the least he deserved after an annus mirabilis, that included that Olympic gold medal, along with a bronze in the mixed relay and the world championship series crown, sealed in October.
Success has also brought other memories, such as hearing the sound of cheering kids whenever he visits schools to show them his medals.
Those cheers always come, Yee says, when they watch the clip of his modern-day miracle along the Seine. Throughout the final lap of the men’s triathlon he seems to be toiling in the 30C midday heat, far behind his great rival Hayden Wilde, the gold medal slipping away. Then the TV cameras cut away. And when they return he is suddenly surging and then overtaking Wilde, before sealing Olympic glory.
“I have very vivid memories of the moment where everything happened,” Yee says. “But I guess everyone else only saw this period where the gap was massive and then it suddenly closed. To an extent, it was the same for me. On the last lap, I felt like I was running for about 400 or 500 metres, and really investing a lot of energy, but I wasn’t making any progress at all.
“But if you have got good closing speed, then there is always a chance. It wasn’t a big one. But there was a glimmer of hope, and I gave it a go.”
So what was it like when you are the hunter, chasing your prey with hundreds of thousands of people willing you on?
“When I race I enter a kind of a flow state, where I feel like everything has slowed down, and I can really focus on each new detail of what I’m doing,” Yee says. “So I was thinking about what my arms were doing, to relax my shoulders, my turnover even when the gap was probably 18 to 20 seconds at the widest point.
“Then all of a sudden this massive gap went from feeling insurmountable to possible. It was one of those mad moments.”
Initially Yee didn’t quite realise how much his victory resonated. However, over the past few months he has heard numerous stories of young children excitedly running around their living rooms, or wanting to do more sport, after watching his golden moment.
“You realise that what you’re doing is bigger than you, and that you’re inspiring a future generation,” Yee says. “That’s probably the thing that I’m most proud about: that I have that chance to be, hopefully, a positive role model.”
That “hopefully” is classic Yee, who remains incredibly humble despite his growing achievements. In Paris he reminded us not to underestimate the determination of a quiet man. It is a message Yee plans to reinforce on the streets of London on 27 April.
