BROCKLEY'S finest Alex Yee scorched to Olympic triathlon silver to step out of the shadow of the Brownlee brothers.

The 23-year-old star ensured Team GB's unparalleled record in the sport continued with sixth British medal in the swim, bike, run sport, onto which he is stamping his own mark.

The swim and bike stages failed to produce a conclusive breakaway and Yee clocked 7:38 for the closing 10km to run to reach the podium on Olympic debut.

"It hasn’t really sunk in quite yet, it doesn’t feel real like it’s me," he said.

"I still feel like a normal boy from south east London. I hope I can serve as inspiration to people to show this is possible. I’m not anything special, I just really enjoy sport and have been really lucky."

Yee's track background and reputation as a strong runner belies his progress in two other demanding disciplines. 

But he knew reeling in an early attack from Frenchman Vincent Luis would be a tough task and pushed the pace in the peloton to reel in the reigning world champion. 

Yee rode the fourth-fastest opening 5km on the bike of any athlete but rejected any notion that this harmed his bid for gold.

"For me, I’ve learnt that I don’t want to be a passive racer," he said.

"That’s not the person I want to be, I want to take the race to people. "I don’t want circumstances and luck to force my hand, I want to do it myself.

"If that meant I wasn’t a good enough runner on the day, that’s what it is. I wouldn’t change anything and I get a bit more respect that way."

Yee's 10,000m personal best on the track, set in 2018, is a mere second slower than the time Mo Farah's last recorded time and he's capable of a sub-14 minute Parkrun. 

So all bets were off as far as British fans and media were concerned when he led Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt and Kiwi Hayden Wilde with 5km left to race. 

As always Blummenfelt's expression was etched with pain but 2021's form triathlete made a decisive move on the final lap, with Yee unable to respond.

The proud south-east Londoner emerged with no regrets and mapped out a mentality that could be the key to his ability to dominate the sport for years to come.

“I think I probably timed it a bit wrong and left it a bit late to close the gap to Kristian," Yee reflected.

"Once I got halfway across it, I think I was pretty cooked and I started to feel the heat. I had a good heat strategy and felt comfortable up to that point, but Kristian was the man on the day.

"I was on the start line with the clarity that I’d done everything I physically could have to get to that line in the best possible shape.

"I’ve had the best possible preparation I could have, I know a lot of people haven’t, so I’m really lucky in that sense. Second was the best possible result for me on the day."

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