Alex Yee continued Great Britain’s run of success in Olympic triathlon with a silver medal on his debut behind Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt.
The 23-year-old was looking to follow in the footsteps of Alistair Brownlee by making it three successive British victories at the Games but it was Blummenfelt who proved the strongest on the run at Odaiba Marine Park.
Yee broke away in a lead trio with the experienced Blummenfelt and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, but couldn’t match the Norwegian’s late surge and had to settle for a commendable second, with Wilde taking bronze.
Jonny Brownlee was bidding for a medal at a third successive Olympics having won bronze in London and silver in Rio but he had to settle for fifth.
After standing on the podium, Yee tried to digest his achievement, saying: “It hasn’t really sunk in quite yet, it doesn’t feel quite real that it’s me yet.
“I still just feel like a normal boy from south-east London. I hope I can just serve as inspiration to many people that this is possible. I’m not anything special, I just really enjoy sport and I’ve been really lucky that it was me.”
Yee admitted he was caught out by Blummenfelt’s kick, saying: “I think I probably timed it a little bit wrong, leaving it a little bit too late to close the gap to Kristian.
“Once I’d got halfway across it I think I was pretty cooked. I was starting to feel the heat. I had a really good heat strategy and I felt really comfortable up until that point but Kristian was the better man on the day.
“I stood on the start-line with a clarity that I’d done everything I physically could to get there in the best possible shape. Second was the best result for me on the day.”
