Did we see two triathlon stars of the future at the recent Outlaw Half in Nottingham?

Their names might be familiar – Laidlow and Yee.

Jake Laidlow – younger brother of the 2023 IRONMAN World Champion Sam – crossed the line in 4:29:28 to win the 18–19 category.

And Joseph Yee – younger brother of Olympic champion Alex Yee, delivered a super strong performance too with a time of 4:09:39 in the 20–24 category.

‘The beginning of a dream’

And it sounded afterwards like this could be the start of something special for Laidlow jr.

Writing on Instagram, he said: The beginning of a dream I’ve had since I was a kid.

“Today, I stood as the youngest athlete on the half course – and I finished first in the U20 category.

“I set out to break 4h30, and I did it.

“Not alone – I had the strength of the people who believe in me, the ones who gave me that final push when I needed it most.

“I learned so much today. I gained confidence.

“Mentally, I stayed strong – I never gave up.

“A 24-minute swim, 2h20 on the bike, and a 1h36 run.

“I couldn’t quite hold the pace to run under 1h30, but my mind carried me through.

“It was all heart in the end — and it got me across the line in 4h29. I’m proud of that. And I always will be. Especially at my age.

“I dreamed of this. I worked for it. And I made it happen. I’ll remember this moment for the rest of my life.

“This is just the beginning of a long journey.

“Thank you to everyone who thought of me, who helped give me that last bit of strength when I needed it most.”

And no surprise at all to see older brother Sam one of the first to comment as he posted: “That Kona 2030 breakaway gonna be insaaaaaane 😉

“Proud of you ❤️”

‘Truly average’!

Joseph Yee’s reaction was a little bit more mixed as he suggested there’s lot of improvement needed with his swim.

He caught the eye in the build up to brother Alex’s marathon debut at the end of April, with Joseph cycling down from Leeds to London the day before to support him – that was a 326km ride in not much more than 12 hours.

But if that suggests an IRONMAN might be on the radar in the future, his run times show he’s far from shabby at Olympic distance as he clocked a 32:59 at the Lincoln 10k earlier this year.

And looking back on his Outlaw display, he said on Instagram: “*Warning* Race reflection of a truly average performance below.

“🏊‍♂️ Swim – 1900m – 28:41. It’s no secret that I’m an awful swimmer, but even I was surprised by how bad this was. Blaming the post-Christmas swim hiatus, but this needs fixing 🛠️

“🚴‍♂️ Bike – 90km – 2:11:35. Finally, the bike legs showed up on race day.

Still down on power ⚡, but my DIY bike fit and aero bodges worked wonders – might start claiming to be the most aero man in triathlon (no testing = no one can prove me wrong).

“🏃‍♂️ Run – 21.1km – 1:23:58. “Genuinely happy with this. After picking up a niggle post-Lincoln 10k, I barely ran in the six weeks leading into this, but luckily managed to hold it together.

“Next up: Lakesman Half – June 15th. No other middle-distance races planned – turns out racing is EXPENSIVEE.”

Kudos to both and it will be fascinating to follow their future progress.