Alex Yee Returns to Tri … But is Determined to Change Things up to Get to 2026 “Full of Energy”

Alex Yee on his way to the Supertri Toronto win. Photos: Kevin Mackinnon

After winning Olympic gold and his first world title last year, Great Britain’s Alex Yee took on a new challenge for the first part of 2025 – competing at the London Marathon in April, where he finished 14th in 2:11:08. After recovering from an injury sustained from the marathon, Yee made his comeback to triathlon this weekend with an impressive win at Supertri Toronto. We caught up with the four-time Olympic medalist (silver and gold in Tokyo, gold and bronze in Paris) after the race and got some interesting insights into his approach to racing in 2025.

Slowtwitch.com: So have we got you back from running officially now? You realize that triathlon is your sport?

Alex Yee: Triathlon has always been my sport, but this year is going to be a year of experiences, a year of doing things a little bit differently, but I’m kind of welcoming that. I think after an Olympic year there’s always that soul search and you don’t know what you’re looking for, but I know my love is in triathlon, I know my energy’s in triathlon, but I’m doing it in a slightly lateral way to get me to 2026 full of energy and ready to go for that new Olympic cycle.

Okay, so you’ve got some more running events coming at you?

We’ll see what happens. There’s potentially some stuff on the horizon which is exciting, so yeah, (we’ll) see what happens.

Another Supertri win. What is it about this format that one, you like, and two, seems to work for you?

I’m a person who likes to learn from things, and with this we get to do three triathlons in such short succession, and the key thing with this is that you learn as much as you can throughout all these races. You take that away or you use it during the race and master that throughout each race. For me that’s what I love about this racing, I’m able to then apply it to racing which is a little bit longer and things seem to come at you slower. But also, in this racing, the more you learn, the more you pick up, the more you’re able to master it, and yeah, I’m loving that.

And how nice is it to have that confidence with your run to finish the race, but you actually got to start the last leg out ahead – that must have felt pretty good.

Yeah, that was definitely part of my game plan, to be able to dive in first, kind of placing my strengths a little bit more. And then I was able to just kind of use that to then allow myself to control the race as much as I could, and then get to the run and try and use my strength.

Yee takes advantage of the short chute to cut the course and gain even more time on the competition.

Did anyone else think that it was nutty and unfair for you to get the short chute?

Yeah, I don’t know, it’s one of those weird things that we’ve picked our team in a way that we have an amazing swimmer (Marcus Dey) who we are confident that can win the short chute in that first leg, and for me, that worked out really well that I was able to have that guy who I can lean on. That’s all part of the team aspect of this racing, is that we’re able to lean on different athletes at different points and look out for each other, and he was able to do that for me, so I’m really, really grateful.

You’re on the Brownlee Racing Team. What does that mean to be part of that team?

Yeah, it’s special. I mean, I was there at London 2012, leaning over the barriers, watching Alistair and Jonny Brownlee win, you know, their gold and bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics, and then to be able to join Johnny when he won his gold medal in the mixed team relay in 2020 was pretty surreal. For that to be carried on as a legacy within SuperTri, for the likes of me, but also future British racers who we’re seeing within the marker stage. The Ollie Conways are really exciting for the sport, and hopefully we’ll continue to excite the sport and leave a great legacy behind.

Tags: