This was our preview of the Valencia 10k – you can click here for a full report and results after Alex Yee took on the world’s very best.
Olympic and world triathlon champion Alex Yee will take on the world’s fastest 10K runners on the road this weekend in Valencia.
Yee reached the pinnacle of the swim, bike, run world in 2024 with that memorable triumph in Paris to become the most decorated triathlete in Olympic history.
And he followed it with a first world title to crown the perfect year.
Just before Christmas he announced a sensational switch back to running for the first part of 2025, with the big target the London Marathon on April 27, something which has always held a special place in his heart after he finished on the podium in the Mini London Marathon as a 15-year-old in 2013.
‘Bit of fun this weekend’
Yee was a talented runner in his youth and progressed to being British champion at 10,000m on the track, running that distance at the 2018 European Championships when he was 14th in Berlin. But he then decided to concentrate on his triathlon career and the rest is history.
He holds a 10K PB of 27:51 on the track but on Sunday in Valencia he faces some of the quickest men on the planet on a course which is famed for its speed.
“Bit of fun this weekend, no expectations, just excited to challenge myself against these monsters,” he posted on Instagram ahead of the race.
A who’s who of 10K running
He will be part of an elite line-up featuring 25 different nationalities on a circuit which has produced both the men’s and women’s world records on the road.
The men’s mark was set there in 2020 when Rhonex Kipruto clocked 26:24 while last year’s women’s world best of 28:46 was set by Agnes Jebet.
The European 10K record of 27:04, achieved by Etienne Daguinos in Lille in 2024, looks under real threat on Sunday from the likes of Dominic Lobalu (SUI), Isaac Kimeli (BEL) and Andreas Almgren (SWE) who will be assisted by a pacemaker tasked with helping them break the 27-minute barrier.
One man who has already gone under that mark is Ethiopian Tadese Worku, a world under-20 3000m champion who is joint-12th on the all-time 10K list with a 26:56.
And his compatriot Samuel Tefera, a double world indoor 1500m champion, makes an eagerly-awaited 10K debut in the race.
For Yee it will be a useful marker 15 weeks out from London where he’s looking to target a time of between 2:07 and 2:10 on his marathon debut, which would put him right up there with the fastest Britons.
One of those is Phil Sesemann, the Olympic marathon runner with a PB of 2:08:02 over 26.2 miles, who will be in opposition in Valencia.
His best 10K time is 28:24, set in France in 2019, and he heads to Spain in fine form after a 28:26 at the Telford 10K in mid-December.
Watch Yee in Valencia 10k LIVE
You can watch Sunday’s race live, with broadcast coverage beginning at 0820 UK time (0920 CET, 0320 Eastern, 0020 Pacific). Just click on the embed below for the live stream.
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