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Alex Yee hopes he can inspire the next generation of triathletes with his performances in Paris as he takes over the mantle from the Brownlee brothers.
For the first time in 20 years, the name Brownlee will not feature in the British Olympic team, with Alistair now concentrating on other challenges and Jonny having missed out on selection.
Between them, the Yorkshire siblings won five Olympic medals, with Alistair the only triathlete to win two golds, in London and Rio, and Jonny having won individual bronze and silver, then gold in Tokyo three years ago as part of the team relay.
Anchoring that team was Yee, who was the individual silver medallist in Japan and goes into the Games in the French capital as one of Britain’s best hopes for gold.
He vividly remembers watching the Brownlees’ success in London as a 14-year-old, and he told the PA news agency: “They’ve created such a legacy for us, not only for the British male side of things but the whole of British triathlon in general.
“We’ve been really lucky to have them. I guess the responsibility has now been passed on to us and we’re going to do our best to represent our country and Team GB the best we can and hopefully make everyone proud.
“From 2012 and being able to watch in my home town an Olympic Games, that’s such a rare experience for most people so I’ve been extremely lucky in that sense.
“And then to be able to share a gold medal with Jonny in 2021 was really, really special. Hopefully I can be the inspiration like they’ve been for me for someone else down the line and carry on that legacy.”
Yee, a former British 10,000 metres champion on the track, has built impressively on his 2021 success, winning double gold in the Commonwealth Games the following year and multiple World Championship Series races.
He clinched his place in Paris last August by winning the Olympic test event on the Games course, saying: “It gave me a good deal of confidence.
“I think things like that are definitely confidence boosters but also the fact that we were able to race on that course before is really powerful for me, and just being able to experience what we are hopefully going to experience. That’s really exciting.”
He has won both his races so far this season but there have also been disappointments, with Yee only finishing 30th in the World Series Finals last year to miss out on the global title.
A lot of his races have come down to a sprint finish against New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, with Yee coming out on top on most occasions.
“I’d certainly love that scenario but we’ll see what happens,” he said with a smile.
“There’s 60 other hungry guys on the start-line and everyone starts on a level playing field. I’ll race the best race I can do and execute the processes I’ve put in place and, hopefully, that puts me in a good place to be in a race with Hayden or whoever it will be.”
