Lewisham-born Alex Yee is a phenomenal athlete and he had a brilliant, almost perfect year in 2024. The triathlete star recently missed out on BBC Sports Personality of the Year, where he was one of six nominees, with fellow Team GB hero, Keely Hodgkinson, taking that end-of-year gold. However, we can be confident that both he and Hodgkinson were not overly concerned about the outcome of that, and with their gold medals from Paris in the bag, it was already a case of “job done” in 2024.
Yee won gold in the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics and also claimed a bronze in the mixed relay. After claiming silver in the individual race at the Tokyo Games, he will rightly have been thrilled to go one better in France. He has continued Team GB’s excellence in this event following on from the Brownlee brothers, and whilst the mixed relay bronze was a downgrade on the gold he won alongside Jonny Brownlee (and Jess Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown) in Tokyo, the future looks incredibly bright for both Yee and Britain.
The 26-year-old’s amazing year was not limited to the Olympics though as Lewisham’s finest also took gold at the World Championships. He had won bronze in 2021 and silver in 2022 so claiming the gold in 2024 was extra sweet. He won individual races in Calgiari and Weihai, whilst his triumph at the Olympics also counted towards his world title bid. His third-place finish in the Grand Final in Torremolinos was enough to see him finish ahead of his rivals and capped a truly brilliant year.
Yee Seeks New Challenge
When any sports star reaches the pinnacle of their discipline, the biggest challenge is to stay there. As motivational gurus would put it, you have to train like you’re the number two, even though you are the number one because if you don’t, someone hungrier will come along and take your crown.
The other approach when you have achieved pretty much everything in your primary sport is to switch to another one. Shortly before the SPOTY awards in mid-December, Yee announced his intention to run the London Marathon. However, he was not doing it as a fun run or to raise money for charity, but would be entering the elite race and had set a very elite goal.
The double Olympic gold medallist stated that his aim was to “run in the ballpark of 2:07 to 2:10.” For reference the current men’s world record for the marathon is two hours and 35 seconds, whilst the winner in Paris clocked two hours, six minutes and 26 seconds. Yee’s stated target of two hours and seven minutes would have put him on the podium and whilst Paris was a tough, hilly course, his marathon goal is still lofty, to say the least.
At the 2024 London Marathon only three men ran faster than that, whilst even the slower end of his target time, two hours and 10 minutes, would have seen him finish seventh. To add further context to just how fast he is hoping to complete the iconic race, only two Brits, Mo Farah (the national record holder with 2:05:11) and Emile Cairess, have run under 2:07, the latter doing that at London in 2024.
Can Yee Do It?
It is clearly going to be incredibly tough for the Paris hero to rock up on the 27th of April, 2025 and deliver a sub-2:10 marathon. He has huge natural talent and clearly possesses the determination and mental powers needed but even so, should he achieve his aims it will be a staggering feat. Part of the reason for this is that Yee has not switched his target from triathlon to marathon but instead is hoping to perform at an elite level in both.
His aim is to continue competing in his main sport, whilst the fact that he won the world title back in October last year means he has not had a long, dedicated lead-in to the 2025 marathon. Compared to everyone else who will take to the streets of the English capital aiming to finish in the top 10, his training block will be less targeted and less intense.
He typically runs around 60 miles a week when training for the triathlon, alongside plenty of swimming, cycling, strength and conditioning, and everything else it takes to be a world and Olympic champion. His plan is to increase that to around 90 miles per week but still to complete work on his other triathlon disciplines.
Whilst cross training is common for recreational runners, most elite marathoners focus solely on road work. This means they will generally put in 100 miles a week or more, peaking at 120 miles, whilst some go further and run 140 miles per week. For Yee to be able to compete with these runners whilst still maintaining a degree of cycle- and swim-specific fitness and training is going to take something really special.
The triathlete himself is completely aware of that, having caveated his time goal with the phrase “if the planets align.” He knows full well how hard this be saying, “I know it’s a challenge doing it in a six-month window.” He also noted that he had to “give the distance the respect it deserves,” having seen “a lot of amazing athletes be humbled really quickly in their first marathon.”
Motivation and Raw Speed
Note to #MyFutureSelf be patient and embrace the processes. Do your best in what you love and maybe one day you’ll be the greatest pic.twitter.com/VIjMnRlGxk
— Alex yee (@Lixsanyee) January 17, 2017
There are many things in Yee’s favour though and his pedigree and mental fortitude are chief amongst them. He also has great motivation, saying that running is always something he has been keen on. As a child, he would watch the London Marathon and he even took part in the Mini London Marathon several times. In 2013 he even finished third in that race, run over just 2.6 miles, at the age of 15.
It should be remembered that he is not new to running either, having run for Britain at the age of 20 in the European Championships (he finished 14th). He also represented his nation in cross country and has some impressive baseline speed. His PB in the 10,000m is less than 28 minutes, with a 5,000m best of 13:26, just 33 seconds slower than Farah’s British record. We suspect that even 2:10 would be an incredible time for Yee but time will tell what the Olympian can achieve.