Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee smashed his 5,000 metres personal best time in Belgium on Saturday night.
The British star took a break from triathlon in the first part of this year to focus on a long-time ambition of racing the London Marathon.
He clocked a superb 2:11:08 on his debut over the full distance which was good enough for 14th place in the men’s elite race behind winner Sabastian Sawe.
Yee then made his return to swim, bike and run recently in brilliant style, showing his speed hadn’t been blunted as he powered to victory in the opening Supertri race of the season in Toronto.
And this latest display will underline to his triathlon rivals that he has significantly improved what was already the strongest of his three disciplines.
Return to Oordegem
And he will next be seen in a triathlon at WTCS French Riviera at the end of August.
But in the meantime he travelled to Belgium to take part in the International IFAM meeting in Oordegem.
He actually raced there back in 2017 when he set the fastest time since 1981 by a GB junior thanks to a 13:37.60.
He improved that track PB to 13:29.18 two years later on home turf at the IAAF Diamond League Anniversary Games at the Olympic Park in London.
Frejus race next up
But on Saturday night and back in Oordegem he took a huge chunk off that mark with a stunning time of 13:13.89.
That’s an average pace of just under two minutes and 39 seconds per kilometre – but by the sounds of it he was significantly quicker in the second half of the race.
Writing on Instagram he said: “13:13 over 5,000m today. Tactical first half but pleased to close in last.”
Just to put that time into context, until June this year the British male record for the distance was Sir Mo Farah’s 12:53.11 which had stood since 2011. However George Mills topped that with a 12:45:27 at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo.
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Going forward the only race we know that Yee is confirmed for during the rest of the year is the first-ever WTCS French Riviera on August 31 – and there’s a chance he could meet his great rival Hayden Wilde there.
Yee and Wilde fought out that epic battle for Olympic gold in Paris last summer but the Kiwi star has been on the sidelines since May following a potentially career-threatening crash when he was hit by a truck while out riding in Japan.
Remarkably he returned to action less than 100 days later at T100 London on Saturday, just before Yee lined up for the track 5,000m in Belgium. And Wilde didn’t just make the start line but he won the race to complete one of the great sporting comebacks.
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