Many of the world’s biggest sports stars, including multiple Olympic champions, have hailed Alex Yee’s phenomenal time of 2:06:38 in the Valencia Marathon at the weekend.
Reigning Olympic triathlon champ Yee was racing over 26.2 miles for just the second time, following a debut 2:11:08 on home roads at the London Marathon in April.
He has taken in a couple of triathlons this year too but the focus has been very much on the marathon before he returns to swim, bike and run in 2026 as he starts the build to defending his title at LA2028.
He’s always been triathlon’s best male runner but what he achieved courtesy of a perfectly-paced race, which saw him clock the second-fastest time ever by a Briton behind only the great Sir Mo Farah, has captured the imagination of the endurance world.
‘Crazy good’
Farah himself was quick to the party as he offered his congratulations and other athletics legends joining in included Keely Hodgkinson, who won 800 metres gold at the Olympics last year and went on to be crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
“🔥🔥👏👏👏 go Alex!!!” was her reaction on Instagram, while hurdling great Femke Bol simply said “amazing” and former 1,500m world champion Jake Wightman summed up many people’s thoughts with “Crazy good 🔥🔥”.
Eliud Kipchoge, the marathon GOAT himself who met up with Yee at the London Marathon this year, wrote: “Congratulations Alex, in life we don’t believe in limitations. The future is bright!”
And if there’s a GOAT of men’s endurance feats then that surely has to be Kilian Jornet, who posted: “Amazing 👏👏👏”
Classy reaction
Not surprisingly the triathlon world was also out in force to congratulate Yee and there was a lovely tribute from his great rival Hayden Wilde.
The two have helped elevate the sport in recent years and fought out that memorable battle in Paris last summer when Yee again showed incredible staying power to just get the better of Wilde for gold.
“Classy big man classy,” was Hayden’s reaction, underlining the mutual respect between them.
