Alex gets Gold!
In one of the most exciting finishes in any event, honorary Kent AC member Alex Yee won Gold in the Olympic triathlon today, cheered on by hundreds of Kent members, and one or two on the course. It is his 3rd Olympic medal, after a gold and silver in Tokyo, and he has a chance of another one in the team event on Monday!
Alex, a Brockley native, joined the club aged 15 in 2013, having been training with Crystal Palace Triathletes for several years. Ken Pike took him on, and saw early results, a 14:40 in the club 5000m championships aged 16.
He was 3rd in the U20 National xc in 2015, behind Mahamed Mahamed.
Over the next few years he ran occasionally for Kent, fitting in training and races around his triathlon competitions, running in the Surrey League, and 4 times in the National Road Relays, twice getting the coveted fastest long leg medal, and memorably helping us to 3rd place in 2023.
He became national 10000m champion on the track at Highgate in 2018, running 27:51.94, and ran the 10000 at the European Championships in Berlin. He also ran the second fastest parkrun time ever (now 3rd) at Dulwich the same year, in 13:57.
In 2020 he set a 5k PB of 13:26, in the race in which Marc Scott broke the British record, setting the second fastest British time (now 3rd), and a British U23 record.
He was also 3rd in the National Cross Country in 2022 behind Mahamed Mahamed and Emile Cairess, two of GB’s Olympic marathon team this year.
Meanwhile he was stepping into the shoes of Alistair Brownlee as the leading British triathlete on the World Triathlon Series, with 23 podiums and 14 wins from 46 starts, narrowly missing out on the world title in the last two years.
And of course in 2021 he realised his ambitions of an Olympic medal, with silver in the individual and gold in the team event.
And despite all his achievements, Alex is an incredibly modest man with no affectation – training partners within the club note that he never has any ego on the track.
Everyone at Kent AC is incredibly proud of Alex’s performance, and most of all for the training and guidance given to him by Ken Pike in his early years.
Congratulations Alex!
