Medals for Team England and Team Scotland as Alex Yee wins Commonwealth Games gold

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Alex Yee became Commonwealth champion during a day which saw two triathlon medals for Team England as Georgia Taylor-Brown secured silver in the women’s race whilst Team Scotland’s Beth Potter claimed bronze.

Yee was roared on by the home crowd as he won the first gold medal of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games after a stunning run to catch and then pass New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, who had to serve a 10 second penalty late in the race.

Later in the day, Taylor-Brown got her moment on the podium as she finished second behind Olympic and defending Commonwealth champion Flora Duffy (BER) with Beth Potter winning Scotland’s first medal of the Games with bronze.

Home gold for Yee

The men’s race was the first medal opportunity of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and it delivered a golden moment for the home spectators as thousands of people lined the route in and around Sutton Park throughout the day.

Raced over the sprint distance, with the mixed relay to follow on Sunday along with paratriathlon, it was New Zealand’s Tayler Reid who was first out of the 750m swim in Powell’s Pool, followed by Jamie Riddle of South Africa.

They were joined by Wilde, the Olympic bronze medallist, in the front group on the bike with the chase group behind including many of the athletes representing the Home Nations. The efforts of the chase group – led by Team England’s Yee, Dan Dixon and Sam Dickinson – saw the advantage of the lead trio reduce to 16 seconds heading into transition two.

Onto the 5km run – two laps around Sutton Park – and it was Wilde who headed out of transition first followed by Reid and Riddle. Yee was quickly making inroads in the opening stages, catching the two athletes in silver and bronze medal positions, before already starting to chase down Wilde.

With 1km to go, Yee used the incline on the course to close the final metres of gap and move onto the shoulder of Wilde.

The 24-year-old, from Lewisham, then moved in front of the New Zealander to take the race lead. As news filtered through that Wilde would have to serve a 10 second penalty for a transition infringement, the pair were still going toe-to-toe.

Wilde did move back in front of Yee but, with Yee remaining on Wilde’s shoulder, the pair touched hands as they entered the blue carpet, an acknowledgment of another great battle between the pair.

With Wilde heading into the penalty box, Yee ran down the blue carpet alone, collecting the St. George’s flag and taking the moment in as he was cheered home by the spectators in the grandstand to take the tape and become Commonwealth champion.

Speaking to the BBC after claiming Commonwealth Games gold, Yee said: “I feel extremely grateful to be in this situation. I feel really proud to be a triathlete today. To see so many different nations who I have never raced before and doing triathlon for the first time this is an amazing day for triathlon and I’m super proud to be the winner of this great event.

“This is a home Games, the first time I have been able to race in front of my parents for a long time at a major games, so this is probably my greatest achievement ever. We came here for weeks in a row meticulously preparing for this and I spent so many sessions doing the same hill every time and when I got there, I almost felt like I had done the race before. I was really proud that I could prepare that way and have this race outcome.”

There was a top-five finish for Team Scotland and Grant Sheldon as he crossed the line in 5th with Iestyn Harrett of Wales also in the top-10, finishing 9th. Dixon was 12th for England with Scotland’s Cameron Main 14th, Dominic Coy of Wales 18th and Sam Dickinson 19th.

Medals for Taylor-Brown and Potter

The women’s race followed in the afternoon and it again delivered another brilliant showcase of swim, bike and run.

Scotland’s Beth Potter led throughout the 750m swim and continued her quick start through transition as she headed onto the bike course alone. After joining forces with the four chasers of Taylor-Brown, Duffy, Sophie Coldwell and Emy Legault of Canada, the leaders built a 27 second advantage by the end of the opening bike lap.

The front five soon became a leading pair when Taylor-Brown followed an attack by Duffy on one of the rises on the bike course and the partnership extended their lead to over a minute by the time they reached transition two reached.  

As Duffy opened-up a lead over Taylor-Brown through transition, Taylor-Brown set off in hot pursuit, doing all she could to try and close the gap. Whilst behind, the battle commenced for the remaining spot on the podium with gold and silver seemingly going to Duffy and Taylor-Brown after the lead they had created.

Potter, who competed at the last Commonwealth Games in both athletics and triathlon, was the first of the chasers to exit transition followed by Coldwell and Legault.

Further up the park path, Duffy appeared to get stronger as the 5km run progressed with the gap between Duffy and Taylor-Brown extending as Duffy successfully defended her Commonwealth title, finishing 41 seconds ahead of Taylor-Brown.

Taylor-Brown crossed the line, with a St. George’s flag in hand, to rapturous applause as she secured silver, while next over the line was Potter who won Scotland’s first medal at Birmingham 2022.

Coldwell followed 20 seconds later, bettering her sixth place finish from the Gold Coast with fourth in Birmingham. Only a few seconds behind was Non Stanford in sixth, one place ahead of her Welsh teammate Olivia Mathias in seventh.

Team England’s Sian Rainsley crossed the line 12th, Sophia Green of Scotland 17th and Wales’ Issy Morris 19th.

Reflecting on the silver medal, Team England’s Georgia Taylor-Brown said: “I’m feeling a bit flat today but even when I’m on a good day it’s hard to keep up with Flora. I just didn’t have it today, I worked as hard as I could on the bike to give her whatever I had in me, and I knew I wanted to get as much of a gap as possible.

“I knew I was probably going to suffer on the run because of that but I didn’t think I’d suffer as much as I did. I gave it my best shot, I dug deep, and I found a little bit extra to get me up the hills, but silver is all I could do today, but I’m super happy in my home first Commonwealth Games.”

Speaking after claiming bronze, Team Scotland’s Beth Potter said: “I’m buzzing. It’s obviously a big aim for this season, I’m just happy to get Scotland a medal. I’ve not really been doing much running; I’ve been working on my swim and bike this year and I think it’s paying off.

“I put a lot of work in the winter and I’m glad I’m reaping the rewards now. Coming here, it was a real target to get a medal and I’m just glad I could do that.”

There’s more swim, bike and run action on Sunday (31 July) when the PTVI paratriathlon and mixed team relay are held.

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