Yee leaves it all out there to bring home gold medal

The 26-year-old Londoner went into the delayed men’s 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 just enough in his legs and surged past Wilde in the final 500 metres to cross the finish line first on the Pont Alexandre III.

“I was riding a bit of a bad patch from 2-6K,” said Yee, who also anchored Britain to mixed relay gold in Tokyo. “And maybe in my head I probably thought ‘second’, with the guys closing quite rapidly behind, that was the best thing for me. But I just didn’t want to give up on myself.

“I don’t even know if I thought I was going to win. I wanted to cross that finish line knowing I’d given 100 per cent. I thought maybe he would be a little bit fresher, me having caught him. So I was like, ‘If I give 100 per cent and he comes back around me then I have to be at peace with that’.

“And it was enough. It’s amazing to be part of this level, and to be able to be pushed by Hayden and have those battles I think is something I’ll relish forever.”

Yee watched Brownlee win gold in Hyde Park 12 years ago and the two-time gold medallist was among the hordes packing the side of the course around central Paris. “It’s pretty special,” he said of having emulated the Yorkshireman, before revealing the role Britain’s greatest triathlete played in the closing stages. “Alistair was one of the people with one lap to go who said to me, ‘Anything can happen, mate’. He shouted that out. It’s a pretty special moment to look back at that now.”

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.

Yee said of the concerns: “I think, for me, you’ve got to have trust in the organisation that they’re going to put you in safe conditions. I’m sure we’ll find out in due time if that’s correct.

“One of the risks of being in the best venue of the Olympics was the water quality. For us to be able to have this historic moment, to be able to race the Olympics in the Seine, hopefully leave a legacy behind. Hopefully people can go and swim there later and be inspired from what we’ve done.”

Beth Potter – who claimed bronze in the women’s triathlon earlier in the day – Potter shrugged off the water problems, saying she had “no issues” swimming in the Seine, with the only real difficulty provided by the strong current.