Inside Alex Yee’s Olympic gold performance and new gold Madone

Alex Yee tried to anticipate every circumstance he might encounter in the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics. The running course featured tight, 180-degree turns, so in the middle of training intervals, he’d practice the fast deceleration, turn, and acceleration back to pace he’d have to do multiple times during the final leg. He thought he might be lagging behind the lead competitors out of the swim, so he practiced chasing back up to the front on the bike before settling into a fast, steady rhythm. If all went to plan, he’d be salting away a gold medal late in the race as one of the fastest runners in the field.

He didn’t anticipate playing catch-up in the closing meters. With one kilometer to go, he was running in second place behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. The commentators on the NBC Olympic broadcast announced that Yee was fighting for silver, with Wilde seemingly holding firm onto the lead, just a few perfunctory minutes away from gold.

Then suddenly, approaching the final 180-degree turn, the camera cut to Yee surging, within a shout of Wilde’s heels. Then onto the straightaway, Yee quickly pulled even, and supplanted the announcers previously foregone conclusion with another: Yee is going to win this. A moment later, he was well clear of his rival. Yee crossed the line six seconds ahead of Wilde.

Yee not only won Olympic gold, he did it by going off script.

“I hadn’t prepared for the sensations I was going through during the race,” Yee said. “I had to push a little bit more psychologically and find a little bit more within myself, which is actually a nice surprise for me in a way, of being able to say when I’m having a tough day, I still can find a little extra percent to make the difference.”

Yee is now the most decorated Olympic triathlete ever, with a silver medal in the men’s individual triathlon in Tokyo, and gold and bronze medals in the mixed relay from Tokyo and Paris, respectively.

He is only 26 years old, seemingly fueled by an unmatched enthusiasm for the sport. Most of his peers are former single discipline athletes who found they could have greater success in triathlon by developing the other two legs. Yee has been drawn to the variety and challenge of triathlon since he was a kid. 

“Triathlon feels like almost the impossible task to be perfect at, which I think is what I’ve fallen in love with,” Yee said. “It’s the fact that I can always be developing and I can always be improving. And I think for other sports, potentially, I’d find my ceiling at some point a little bit quicker. But for me, to be able to balance all three legs and to constantly have that purpose has been something that has really excited me and gotten me out of bed.”

Last month, Yee visited Trek headquarters in Waterloo, Wisc., after his supertri League race in Chicago to celebrate his gold medal. He toured the building, watched his banner unfurl in the warehouse rafters, and took questions from employees in a Q&A. At the end of his visit, he was presented with one last prize: A glittering, gold-painted Madone Gen 8, which he’ll race this weekend for a supertri race in London.

“It’s really exciting to come and see the process of a Project One bike being made, and the intricacies of what goes into each person’s bike, and how much love and care is actually put into it,” Yee said. “And also to get such an amazing bike is such an amazing touch. I’m actually in awe of it.”

Yee said the bike left him “the closest I’ve ever been to being speechless.” Fortunately, he’s gotten quite good at dealing with the unexpected.

Yee spoke with the Race Shop about his Olympic experience, his love of triathlon, his new bike, and how he’s elevating the profile of the sport he loves. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Heading into Tokyo you weren’t sure how you would stack up against the field. I imagine that Paris was a lot different. What was your mentality like compared to your first Olympics?

Alex Yee: It was definitely different to Tokyo. I think having had another three years of being able to mature and develop as an athlete, I definitely felt in a much better position than I did in Tokyo, and felt much more prepared. And having that extra year, being fortunate enough to qualify a year early, I was able to prepare as effectively as I could for this race. I felt like I could be in a position to be competitive and — though it was always never said — try and win the race. And the way we always framed it was just racing to the best of my ability, and then I can never be disappointed with that. 

Did you feel a lot more pressure to do well, or were you able to tamp down by just focusing on doing your best?

Yee: Yeah, I’d say there was a little bit more expectation and pressure. But I framed everyone’s expectations a bit more as support, and a bit more as an extra person with a hand behind my back, and an extra person that wants me to do well, who is going to turn on the TV and be excited about my race. So for me, that’s exciting. And you know, as much as I want to race well, I want to inspire people and get people excited about our sport. And I guess part of that is to make the expectation seem a little bit lower, but that is also fundamentally true for me.

You had a detailed training plan that included planning for things like tight turns, and being behind on the bike. Was there anything during the race that you didn’t plan for?

Yee: I prepared for having a bad run, but I hadn’t prepared for the sensations I was going through during the race. And for me, I think I had to adapt on the fly, and use experiences I’ve had before, and races that I’ve been through, and also just a little bit of determination and grit that I’ve built up over the last three years to really push on and make that final difference. 

And I think that was the biggest thing. I prepared perfectly for the bike, I would say, and it was just the run, which is normally my strength, that actually turned out to be a bit more of a challenge. I thought I had to push a little bit more psychologically and find a little bit more within myself, which is actually a nice surprise for me in a way, of being able to say when I’m having a tough day, I still can find a little extra percent to make the difference.

Speaking of that final kilometer and having to kick into high gear to win, had you been in positions like that before in big races? And how confident were you that you had the skill set to overcome Hayden in that situation?

Yee: I mean, it definitely isn’t a race scenario that Hayden and I have been in before, in terms of him breaking away from me and me chasing him. And I had to just believe in myself and believe in what I was doing and trust my body that I had that extra mile in my arsenal. I also just knew that I could probably push as hard as he could when he went away.

So I think it was all about reading the race the best I could, but also just having the confidence that, through some supertri races and other wild triathlon races, I’ve been able to develop a good finish, and that’s one of my strengths. So the closer we get to the finish, I can just be confident and believe in myself and that gives me — not the not the belief I can win, but the chance that I can win. And that glimmer of hope was always something which kept me going.

What was the Olympic experience like? Some athletes struggle to take in their surroundings.

Yee: I thought I’d experienced an Olympic Games in Tokyo, but coming to Paris was a completely different experience. And to be able to have friends around me, and to be able to have a crowd, to be able to race in such amazing scenery and on such an amazing venue, I did feel like I was able to take in the occasion and appreciate that.

You can treat it like any other race, but fundamentally it isn’t, so you want to look back on these experiences and have positive memories and to remember them fondly. And I think if you let them go by too fast and focus too much on the outcome, then every race you do will pass you by so quickly.

After the Olympics, you very quickly got into supertri racing, which is a unique format consisting of three rounds of three short triathlons back-to-back-to-back — essentially a tri-triathlon. How do you like that style of racing, and how does it suit you?

Yee: That’s a good way to put that, actually. I think for me, I really enjoy the excitement that it brings and the way it helps me develop my racecraft for triathlon races, because small margins and small mistakes make the difference between winning and losing in this race. I think that’s super exciting. And it’s being received really well by the world’s best athletes, and it’s exciting to be able to race those guys across another series. 

I think all of us were excited, irrespective of your outcome in the Olympics, to keep the momentum going of the excitement that had come from the Olympics, and keep the conversation about the Olympics going. 

I think supertri has come at a good time to keep people excited about triathlon and what’s going on. And for me personally, the enduro format suits me quite well. I feel like I’m a person that learns quickly through racing, and as the races go on, I feel like people make more mistakes, and I’m able to keep my cool, keep my focus on myself, and I’m able to make less mistakes and just push my body throughout the three races and find the best out myself in that last race when it matters.

You mentioned wanting to elevate the sport of triathlon. What are some ways you can continue to do that?

Yee: Hopefully my performances inspire people to enjoy the sport, and hopefully think that they might want to try the same. But then also trying to get people involved from a grassroots level and get them curious about the sport from a young age, and excited about doing some younger events. It’s educating people that if you did enjoy the Olympics, then this is your first step, and this is what you can do. So I’d love to be part of something like that, where we could help develop the sport from that avenue. 

Lastly, we’ve seen in a lot of different documentaries that people are excited about the personalities of athletes and understanding more and more about them. When you see a super short, 2-3 minute interview after a race of an athlete, you get the instantaneous emotion about the race and what has happened, but you don’t get to see the day in, day out experiences, and how they live their lives. You don’t see that we are just normal people. I think that makes us more relatable and gets more people excited about the sport, and hopefully takes it to new heights.

Your rivalry with Hayden Wilde has been really entertaining. It definitely seems like something that has gotten the triathlon community excited, too. What is your dynamic with Hayden like, and have you enjoyed the attention on you two?

Yee: Yeah, it’s exciting. I think he’s someone that keeps me motivated about what I’m doing and excited about racing and pushing the limits. And I really feel, especially with the Olympic race, that I really have to use 100% of my body to beat him. And the fact that we’re able to push each other to those new limits is really, really exciting.

I hope people are enjoying watching the battles and the rivalry that we have together. Hopefully that can carry on. And races like supertri Boston can be exciting and animate people about the racing. And this week, with Hayden winning in Chicago, it’s good that it’s not just one way, as much as I want every race to go well for myself. It’s exciting, and people are gonna turn on and watch our sport because of that.

You’ve talked about being drawn to triathlon from a young age, and not finding your way into the sport through the individual disciplines like a lot of triathletes. What drew you to triathlon? Why does the sport speak to you in a way that running or biking or swimming on their own did not?

Yee: I think for me, sport has always been about finding love in the purpose of what I’m doing and trying to improve and get the best out of myself and my body. And triathlon feels like almost the impossible task to be perfect at, which I think is what I’ve fallen in love with. It’s the fact that I can always be developing and I can always be improving. And I think for other sports, potentially, I’d find my ceiling at some point a little bit quicker. 

But for me, to be able to balance all three legs and to constantly have that purpose has been something that has really excited me and gotten me out of bed. And I don’t think that’s changed from being nine years old to me at 26 and having won an Olympics.

You got to visit Trek headquarters in Waterloo recently. Walk me through the day, and what it was like meeting the employees and seeing your new bike?

Yee: It was a really special visit today. I wasn’t really too sure what to expect, having never been to such a big headquarters, so it’s really exciting to come and see the process of a Project One bike being made, and the intricacies of what goes into each person’s bike, and how much love and care is actually put into it. I think it’s really rewarding to be able to meet the person that made my Olympic bike. To be able to have that kind of personal touch with somebody is really, really special.

And likewise, just to be able to physically meet everyone in the Race Shop in person and have that physical interaction and connection I think really elevates the sponsorship and the partnership that we have. I’m really, really proud to be a Trek athlete and to feel so much love in the building and to feel so, so well received. 

Especially as a triathlete, sometimes you never know how you’re received in the bike industry. So it’s really, really lovely for so many people to be excited and to be asking questions and to have attended. 

And also to get such an amazing bike is such an amazing touch. I’m actually in awe of it.

Did you have any idea that was coming?

Yee: No, I had no idea at all. So when it came out during the Q&A, it was the closest I’ve ever been to being speechless. It was pretty special.