British triathlete Alex Yee could enjoy a summer like no other if he can replicate anything like the performance that granted him Team GB stardom last year.
The boy from Brockley secured individual silver and mixed relay gold during an epic week at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, achievements that landed him an MBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours.
But now his ambitions are set much closer to home as he gears up for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of Team England. Once again those medal ambitions will be firmly in his sights when he lines up at the start.
But the 24-year-old goes into the Commonwealths in a completely different place to where he was in his life leading up to his success in Japan. With a new home, a new car, a driving licence and a brilliantly impactful mental ethos he’ll be giving it his all so home fans have something to cheer.
Promisingly, Yee goes into Commonwealth action in fine form, after bouncing back from a dramatic crash during the World Triathlon Championship Series event in Leeds back in June, which saw team-mate Jonny Brownlee break his elbow.
The eventual winner of that race Hayden Wilde admitted he was partly to blame for the incident, but Yee followed up that disappointment by outsprinting his rival to take the win in Montreal a couple of weekends later.
“Montreal has hopefully given me a bit of momentum to work with now and I’m going to miss the next world series to really focus on Birmingham,” Yee exclusively told Mirror Sport shortly after his victory in Canada.
“We’re going to be able to go to the course and go to and from Birmingham a lot, driving up and down, just to make sure I’m able to see the course and prepare properly.
“That’s one of the advantages that we have here, that we can be so close and I’m going to give myself a good four weeks to prepare and be the best I can be for the day.”
“Emotions are a good thing, it shows you care about what you’re doing”
Alongside the training regime in the lead up to a home Commonwealth Games, Yee’s mental preparation has also proven to be key. The 24-year-old has developed a ‘what next?’ mantra as he’s learned to appreciate just how beneficial emotion can actually be in sport.
“Mental and psychological stuff has been something that has probably really under-evolved in sport,” he said. “People don’t appreciate how much it actually has an impact on how you train, your lifestyle and how you race.
“It can often - if you're seeing somebody - be seen more as a problem than as something that can really benefit your performance. Last year I started to work with one of the British Triathlon psychologists and just really opened up about what I feel and the emotions that I feel around racing.
“I was able to try some different things and come up with some cues which, for me, bring me back to what I’m doing when things can come out of control. Often there can be so many factors going on at one time that you remember to focus on yourself, and what you can do, rather than things, which are often out of your control in a triathlon race.
“I come back to a saying - ‘what’s next?’ Something can go wrong, something can go right but I need to be thinking, ‘whatever’s happened has happened and I can’t do anything about that, whether it’s good or bad’.”
Considering the events of Leeds, that mentality has already proved its worth to Yee with his follow-up victory. But he also doesn’t forget to let out his true feelings when he really has to.
“Even after the crash in Leeds I gave myself five to 10 minutes to really moan and be annoyed,” he added. “Then I was like, ‘right it’s done’. What’s happened has happened, I can’t change it, so what can I do?
“I started looking at the course for Montreal, doing some more specific things and focusing on healing. I think that’s the best way for me to process things as well because otherwise I’ll just be a bit sad and wallow in it.
“You’re allowed to feel what you feel. Emotions are a good thing, it shows you care about what you’re doing. For me to be able to do that is always right because I think you deserve to feel how you feel, otherwise everyone will be the same.”
“I really do think there was a life before my car and a life after the car”
While Yee has already achieved so much in his career - an Olympic gold and silver medal is about as good as it gets after all - his life away from the track has increasingly become more settled.
Not only has he just moved into his new home in Loughborough, but the triathlete has also finally passed his driving test with the help of Peugeot after being the victim of many teasing posts on social media about his lack of a licence.
“Even when I posted on my Instagram about me passing my test I put the meme in and was like ‘see you later!’ he laughed.
“There’s a guy who’s pointing in the mirror saying ‘you’ve got to pass your driving test’ and I got tagged in that so much. It’s nice not to be tagged in them anymore!”
After choosing the electric Peugeot e-208 as his first car to start life on the road, Yee has already noticed the benefits the independence gives him. Not only has it helped from a performance standpoint, particularly helpful ahead of Birmingham 2022, but it's also helped in his personal life as well, particularly when his grandmother fell ill and passed away shortly after Christmas.
“It wasn’t until I passed that I really appreciated how much freedom I had and the things that I couldn’t do before, and the little marginal gains that I couldn’t actually do without it,” he explained.
“I really do think there was a life before my car and a life after the car. It’s been beneficial to even go and see a physiotherapist last minute - I can go do that now. I can go run in different places where I haven’t run before and I can travel to domestic races by myself.
“Even little things like, when my grandma was really unwell, the fact that I could just go in the car as soon as my mum gave me a phone call to see her for a few hours while she was alive. I wouldn’t be able to do without it so I really owe a lot to that kind of freedom.
“It’s been one of those things that has really benefited my performance the most in a funny way, because I’ve been able to search all these and use all these marginal gains to my benefit and it’s been good.”
“Triathlon has given me a purpose”
While all eyes will be on Yee’s performance at the Commonwealths, as well as other members competing for the home nations, his passion for his sport as a whole and bettering the opportunities for others shouldn’t go unnoticed.
So often athletes can be judged by medals and performances but it’s often work away from competition that can have a significant impact on others.
“Triathlon has given me a purpose, that’s the huge thing,” he said. “Maybe without it I wouldn’t know where I stood in the world. For me it’s given me something that I really am passionate about.
“I feel like I’ve been given a gift to an extent, which I really want to do justice to. I feel like I have so much more to give to the sport and I guess that goes to my performance but also I feel like I can do stuff for the next generation and for people that are in my local community, who I maybe saw in my age group not get the opportunities that I did.
“For me it’s given me an avenue and a passion and a purpose.”
Alex Yee will be competing for Team England at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Triathlon events will take place on Friday, July 29 and Sunday, July 31 .
