In the men’s triathlon World Championship Finals in Torremolinos, Spain, British Olympic champion Alex Yee achieved his first world title with a performance that placed him in third place.
Yee won gold at this year’s Paris Olympics, and he finished the triathlon with a time of 01:43:50, over a minute behind the winner Hayden Wilde of New Zealand with a time of 01:42:22, who won silver at the Olympics. Leo Bergere from France, the 2022 world champion, placed second with a time of 01:43:24.
Highlights of the race
Having won three times at the Olympic distance before the event, Yee needed to place in the top six to secure a world championship.
The athlete was trailing the lead by 21 seconds going into the first transition but dropped further behind when a breakaway group pulled away in the early going of the bike segment. Despite this, he managed to stay in contact with the leading pack and maintain his advantage.
Moreover, in the 10km run, Yee showed his capabilities by passing over a throng of runners to secure his title. He said: “This has evaded me for the last three years and makes it even sweeter… It is probably something that has haunted me day in and day out and I wanted to put on a show and a smile on peoples’ faces and I’m World Champion. There’s always going to be pressure in these races… but pressure makes diamonds.”
Alistair Brownlee, a two-time Olympic triathlon champion, recently announced his retirement from the sport at the age of 36.
Being a World Champion in 2009 and 2011, the athlete was known for winning gold in the London Olympics in 2012, and later on defending his championship title in Rio after four years. Moreover, he was the only triathlete to win the junior world championship, U23 world championship, European championship, and Olympic championship.
Announcing his retirement, Brownlee admitted: “Triathlon has profoundly shaped my life. I have dedicated nearly half of it to being a professional athlete, fulfilling my childhood dream and achieving far more than I ever dared to imagine.”
He added: “I look forward to embracing a slightly slower pace of life, yet not too slow… There’s an exciting array of events, challenges and adventures awaiting me – things I’ve always wanted to have a crack at but haven’t had the chance to pursue.”
Antonio Arimany, president of the World Triathlon, praised Brownlee and said that his legacy will ‘live as long as the sport itself.’
Arimany stated: “Alistair’s contribution to the world of triathlon over more than two decades is immeasurable… He is a true icon of our sport and he will inspire generations to come of young triathletes from all around the world.”
Brownlee was unable to qualify for the 20221 Tokyo Olympics due to an ankle issue that required surgery. After this setback, he gave up Olympic distance racing to concentrate on Ironman competitions and long-distance triathlons.
The Belgian athlete, who placed 22nd at the Paris Olympics, defeated the young German Rico Bogen in the final moments to win and solidify his title as champion. With less than two kilometers left, van Riel overtook Bogen, who had been his close running leg opponent in the competition. He finished with a performance record of 3:09:17 while Bogen crossed the finish line 22 seconds later.
Despite finishing the race strong, van Riel admitted that he was not fully in control of what had happened but he was confident he finished with remaining energy.
“I could feel I had a couple of surges in me… Rico is really good at keeping the pace high but when I put my first surge in and we dropped Kyle [Smith] I could already see he was suffering a bit… I knew that with a couple of kilometers to go, I was going to put in a big surge,” van Riel stated.
Following this win, van Riel said: “It was honestly really tough… Especially wearing that No. 1, because in my head I knew a podium place was good enough and if you have that in your head, it’s actually really hard to go for the win as well.”
The athlete added: “So I was trying not to think too much of the title and just try to perform as good as I could on the day.”
At the Paris Paralympics, Yip Pin Xiu of Singapore achieved a first-ever three-peat by winning the women’s 100-metre backstroke S2 final. With a performance time of 2:21.73 at the La Defense Arena, the reigning champion secured Singapore’s first medal of the Paris Games.
She finished just in front of the silver-medallist Haidee Aceves of Mexico, who achieved a record of 2:21.79, and the bronze-medallist Angela Procida of Italy with a time of 2:24.48.
At the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics, Yip, 32, took home the gold in this event as well. Currently holding the world record for both the event and the 50m backstroke S2, she is Singapore’s most decorated Paralympian.
Three para swimmers from Team Singapore have qualified for the current Games, including the six-time Paralympic gold champion. Towards the end of the meet, Toh Wei Soong and Sophie Soon will also compete for their home country.
Yip will next swim on Saturday in the S2 heats of the 50-metre backstroke.
World champion Noah Lyles won the men’s 100-metre race in the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, to guarantee his spot in this year’s Paris Olympics. The athlete crossed the finish line first in the finals and secured his ticket to France, tying his personal best time of 9.83 seconds.
Spinter Kenny Bednarek came in second with a time of 9.87 seconds—his personal best—and Fred Kerley was third with a season’s best of 9.88 seconds. Both athletes qualified for the Paris Olympics. They also took home a silver medal in the 100- and 200-metre events in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Lyles: “I wouldn’t have had that fire burning”
In his recent performances, Lyles, the current world champion in the 100, 200, and 4 x 100-metre relays, was not selected for the 100 metres in Tokyo after finishing ninth in the trials. Still, he qualified for the 200-metre competition and took home the bronze.
Lyles admitted: “Three years ago I got second to last. This year I came and won it… Part of the plan. Nothing changed. Might be a shock to everybody else, but when you know the goal, you know the goal.”
“If I didn’t get that third place in Tokyo, I wouldn’t have had that desire. I wouldn’t have had that fire burning. I wouldn’t have accomplished what I have accomplished in the past… Now we constantly look to the future with open eyes because anything can happen,” he added.
Lyles will also be trying to win the 200-metre race in which he won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
The men’s 100-metre finals will be held on August 4 during the Paris Olympic Games, which will run from July 26 to August 11.
Noah Lyles became the first American to clinch the Olympic gold in the men’s 100-metre in 20 years when he won the race in Paris by five-thousandths of a second.
Lyles, who won with a time of 9.784 seconds, finished barely ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson (who ran in 9.789) and the US’ Fred Kerley (whose time was 9.81).
“That’s probably one of the most beautiful races I’ve been in,” said Kerley.
In the photo finish, Kerley’s orange shoe crossed the line first. But it’s the chest breaking the barrier that counts. Lyles’ chest crossed first.
The race was so close that even the commentators nearly called the wrong winner before the photo finish, which showed Lyles was the first to lean over the finish line even though others managed to step over it before him.
According to Olympic rules, the first athlete whose torso reaches the closest edge of the finish line is the winner. That means the trunk of the body is what counts rather than the head, limbs or feet.
Closest 100m race since 1980 Moscow Olympics
It was the closest 100-metre final since at least Moscow in 1980. Great Britain’s Allan Wells won the gold in Moscow narrowly beating Cuba’s Silvio Leonard in 10.25 seconds in an era when timing didn’t go down to the thousandths of a second.
Lyles is the first American to win the 100 metres since Justin Gatlin in 2004.
Lyles’ only other Olympic medal is a bronze, which he earned in the 200-metre at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics 100-metre champion, Marcell Jacobs of Italy, finished fifth with a time of 9.85 seconds.
Thompson, the betting favourite, said, “I’m going to be disappointed, but I’m super happy and grateful at the same time. I just got to take it as what it is and just move forward from here.”
Photo finish
Thompson seemed to be leading for much of the race.
‘’Through 30 metres, Lyles, 27, was last. He still trailed with 10 metres remaining and did not lead until his final steps, kicking past Kishane Thompson of Jamaica, who held the fastest time in the world this year,” reported the New York Times.
The race was so close that when the sprinters crossed the line and the word “Photo” popped up next to the names of Lyles, Thompson and five others in the eight-man field, Lyles walked over to the Jamaican and said, “I think you got the Olympics dog.”
Thompson wasn’t convinced. “I was, ‘Wow, I’m not even sure, because it was that close,’” he said.
When Lyles’ name came up first, he snatched his name tag off the front of his bib and held it aloft. Then he shouted at the TV camera, “America, I told you I got this!”
