Triathlon-Yee's 'one last push' earns incredible gold

PARIS : Alex Yee might have been the fastest runner in the field at the Olympic men's triathlon but he knew "you can't beat the heat" and his considered pacing paid maximum dividends when he reeled in Hayden Wilde in an extraordinary finish on Wednesday.

The two athletes know each other inside out and won silver (Yee) and bronze (Wilde) in Tokyo, so the New Zealander took something of a punt in trying to go hard early and break his British friend and rival's resolve.

With only around 500 metres of the 10km course to go it looked to be a masterstroke but then, as with untold athletes before him, the sub-30-minute 10km pace in boiling, humid conditions extracted its leaden-legged price and Wilde effectively hit the wall.

Moments earlier Yee had been anxiously glancing over his shoulder to see if the chasers were putting his silver in doubt, but the racer in him then sensed Wilde's struggles and he summoned one final effort.

Incredibly, from 15 seconds behind, he roared into a 10-second lead, all in the space of about 150 metres, and was away and clear as he claimed a third British gold in the event after the two won by Alistair Brownlee in 2012 and 2016.

"At 5km I was going through a really bad patch but with 2.5km to go I started to find my legs and thought 'I’m going to give myself one last chance at this and not give up', and here we are," Yee said after winning his country's record-extending 10th medal in the sport.

Even if his in-built pacer was working sub-consciously, Yee, who won gold in the mixed relay three years ago, smiled at the suggestion that he had made a calculated call to hold back when Wilde made his unexpected early move.

"To be honest I think Hayden ran an amazing race and I couldn't go with him," he said.