The sweet science: Sam Dickinson hails England team chemistry

News Director

Team England were strong favourites going into the Mixed Relay in Birmingham and they delivered in stunning style.

There were a range of emotions afterwards – Alex Yee appeared super cool as he collected his second gold medal of the week, Sophie Coldwell had banished the heartache of fourth in the individual, Sam Dickinson earned a tangible golden reward for his selfless work on Friday, while Georgia Taylor-Brown finished it all off perfectly.

Perfect start

Yee led it out and his kick in the second part of the 2km run opened up a gap on New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, the man who he’d duked it out with two days earlier.

That advantage would only go one way and Yee said: “I just wanted to do the best I could. For me that meant I had to run hard and hopefully get a gap for Sophie.

“I’m just really proud of these guys and to get another Commonwealth gold is amazing. I couldn’t be more proud to be English right now.”

Team England Commonwealth Games Mixed Relay 2022
Team England celebrate a brilliant Mixed Relay Triathlon win (Pic – World Triathlon).

Coldwell, who didn’t hide the fact she was “gutted” after being one place off the podium on Friday, admitted she had slightly mixed feelings when starting leg two: “On the one hand I was going ‘woohoo, a 20 second-gap’ and on the other it was ‘oh no, I’ve got a 20-second gap’.

“But I just got my head down and had a good swim. Our team was all about commitment and positive racing and that was just what I really wanted to deliver.”

‘Unbelievable chemistry’

Quote of the day though surely went to Dickinson, who had buried himself on the bike to tee up individual glory for Yee: “It was amazing – we all did science at University and the chemistry in this team is absolutely unbelievable!”

And it all meant that Taylor-Brown had a 16-second advantage when she began the final leg, though she was taking nothing for granted:

“It was still really hot and it wasn’t easy. But the team had put me in such a good position and I just told myself it’s 20 minutes and I can do anything for 20 minutes.

“I was kind of backing out when I went non-wetsuit and everyone else went wetsuit, but the team backed me and said whatever you want to do, do it. And it paid off.”

Jonathan Turner
Written by
Jonathan Turner
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