Olympians Alex Yee and Beth Potter to take on supertri London
You might remember that spectacular morning of Wednesday 31 July 2024 – the morning that saw Britain’s Alex Yee sprint to spectacular gold in the men’s individual triathlon at the Paris Olympic Games, and compatriot Beth Potter take bronze in the equivalent women’s event. Then, just five days later, the pair joined forces with Georgia Taylor-Brown and Samuel Dickinson to take another bronze for Team GB in the mixed relay Olympic triathlon. The swim-bike-run action was superb – and if you weren’t one of the lucky few to spectate the events in the French capital in person, you’ll probably wish that you were.
Thankfully, we now have another chance to watch Yee and Potter compete in the flesh at supertri London on Sunday 8 September – their first major contest on home soil since the Paris Games.
What is supertri London?
Free to attend, supertri London will see Yee, Potter and some of the greatest triathletes in the world – including Brits Jonny Brownlee, a former Olympic champion and six-time world champion, and Kate Waugh, the 2023 supertri (known then as Super League Triathlon) series winner – go head-to-head. The event will be staged at London’s West India Quay and will feature a technical course of tight turns and tricky cobblestones.
It will be an incredible way to celebrate and cheer on the duo from an electric front row perspective. You can redeem your free ticket to this year’s supertri London here.
What is the supertri format?
Fast and furious, supertri is known as the F1 of triathlon – and for good reason. While an Olympic triathlon involves a 1500m swim, 40km ride and 10K run, a supertri triathlon entails three continuous sets of a 200m swim, 4km ride and 1km run. As such, the all-important changeovers happen rapidly and repeatedly, resulting in plenty of non-stop action for spectators to feast upon.
There are five supertri events in the annual series, held in cities across the USA, Europe and the Middle East: Boston, Chicago, London, Toulouse and Neom.
Who are Alex Yee and Beth Potter?
Yee is the most decorated Olympic triathlete of all time, having preceded his Paris success with two medals at the 2020 Games in Tokyo – a silver in the men’s individual event and a gold in the mixed relay. Aside from his swimming and cycling expertise, the 26-year-old is also an outstanding runner and the 2019 British champion over 10,000m. In fact, his running prowess was verified on the final stretch of the men’s individual triathlon in Paris, where Yee unleashed an incredible kick at the end of the final leg – a 10K run – to overtake New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde and seize the win.
Potter, too, is a formidable runner in her own right, boasting a strong track record on – indeed – the track. Before going full-send with triathlon and scooping multiple world titles in the three-part discipline, the 32-year-old Glaswegian competed in the 10,000m for Team GB at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
We caught up with Yee and Potter to hear more about their Olympic endeavours, how they got into the tough discipline of triathlon and what excites them most about supertri London.
RW: Alex – what went through your mind in the final few kilometres of the men’s individual triathlon in Paris? Did you know you could run down Hayden Wilde to get gold?
Alex Yee: ‘I was going through a bad patch in the middle 5K of the race and it was all about running through my processes, so I kept myself in with a chance. That way, if I did feel good towards the end, I’d kept myself in with a slim chance of getting back to the front and amazingly I was able to rally. I picked a point on the course where I knew I was strong on the run, given how I am technically and physiologically, and was able to do it, which was an amazing feeling.’
RW: And Beth – how did you feel heading toward your first Olympic medal in the women’s individual triathlon in Paris? And then your second bronze in the mixed relay triathlon?
Beth Potter: ‘I was over the moon to even come home with one medal – and it has been a bit of a whirlwind ever since. It was a very hard race in the individual event, and to then get a medal with the rest of the team in the mixed relay was great.’
RW: How do your mental and physical preparations for an individual triathlon differ from those for a mixed relay triathlon, where you’re working as part of a team?
AY: ‘Luckily, I was able to be first leg for this year’s Olympics, so I was able to prepare very similarly for the mixed relay and the individual race. I was able to have a similar style of racing to a normal triathlon, which was great for me and made little change to me mentally. Physically, there is a shorter and sharper element to the mixed relay and for me that meant I had to do some sharper sessions in the days we had between races. There is something about mixed relay racing which does bring out the best in you, because we do an individual sport – but to come together as a team, we’re all motivated to perform to the best of our ability and race well.”
BP: ‘My training was for the individual event – and as I knew I was one of the fittest in the field, I knew I would be fine in terms of recovery to be fit for the relay [where Potter was the fourth and final leg]. It is very different as an event. Both times it is an individual effort, but when you are suddenly in a team you feel the pressure to have to do well because your teammates have done well for you, too. I treated them both as individual efforts and did what I set out to do in those bits. It’s nice to do well for the rest of the team and you have it in the back of your mind that they have laid it all out there – and you want to do the same.’
RW: You’re both extremely accomplished runners – when and why did you transition to triathlon?
AY: ‘I actually started as a triathlete. I have always done triathlon and was fairly competent at running when I took it up. For me, triathlon has always been my identity. I have always wanted to wake up in the morning and swim, bike and run – and that’s what got me out of bed. What’s led me to be a good runner is the aerobic benefits you get from being a competent swimmer and biker. We are seeing more people be open to the opportunity of cross training.’
BP: ‘I had a disappointing Rio Olympics [where Potter competed in the 10,000m] because I was ill. It made me fall out of love with running and I was craving a whole new focus. That drove me to triathlon, and I have been pursuing that ever since – and the Olympics really is the pinnacle of it.’
RW: What does your running training look like – and how do you balance it with swimming and cycling?
AY: ‘At the moment, I probably run between 85km and 105km a week, and that’s not actually a volume that is too hard to balance with swimming and cycling. I am quite lucky in that sense. For me, I have two key run sessions which are standard to a lot of people. I have a long run and always do track on Tuesday, and stick to those kinds of traditions. It has always worked for me, and while there is specific stuff that comes in for specific races, a lot of what I do is bread and butter and a case of working on my physiological development.’
BP: ‘I needed to improve my swim and bike when I moved to triathlon, so I’ve spent the last three or four years focusing on that and not actually doing all that much running. I think the time has come where I will start to put in an extra session on the run and start to do a bit more volume. I only run about 35 miles a week now – when I was running, I would run about 80 miles a week. I feel that my run is pretty good, but definitely think that there is more to gain from having a more balanced programme that is more swim and bike heavy.’
RW: Do you still compete in straight running competitions? If not, would you be tempted to do so again?
AY: ‘I definitely would be tempted. I think it’s something that interests me, and I’ve still got in my Twitter bio that I’m a triathlete/runner – and it’s something that I never quite wanted to give up on. There’s a time and a place and for me, there was a massive focus on the Olympic Games and delivering the best I could in Paris. I think that is something that was my big motivation and now is the time to find that next purpose. Being the best athlete that I can be and pushing myself excites me.’
BP: ‘I haven’t done a race since I broke the world record on the road for the 5K. I am trying to tee up a fast 10K for the start of next year because I would really like to get a PB on the road and look to do something there as well.’
RW: How do you feel going into supertri London this September – your homecoming race after the Olympics?
AY: ‘It will be really special. London always brings, as a biased person [Yee is from Lewisham in southeast London], the best energy of any supertri race. People are excited to watch us race, and it is a really exciting course that has got lots to it. I am really excited to go back there and see some faces that haven’t seen triathlon before, or didn’t know what triathlon was before the Olympics or before supertri came to London. It is going to be very rewarding, and it is exciting for me to come back, race and give back to a city that gave me so much. Hopefully, I can give back to them as well.’
BP: ‘I am looking forward to doing supertri this year. Over the last 18 months, there has been a lot of pressure and a lot of eyes on me. I just want to race and enjoy it and not have that pressure, because it takes its toll when you feel that you are constantly in the limelight – so I want to come and find the enjoyment for racing again.’
RW: What do you like best about the supertri format?
AY: ‘You have to be 100% at your best to be competitive in these races. For me, it is so short and sharp and exciting that I can work on myself and develop myself as an athlete, but also be part of a movement which is developing our sport and getting people excited about triathlon. That’s one of my big aspirations, so what’s not to love about it?’
BP: ‘I really like going for three continuous rounds of short and fast swim, bike and run. It’s hard – you have to be clinical in your transitions and you have to always be thinking one step ahead, as any small mistakes really cost you. Being clear on those finer details can really help you.’
RW: What are your next big goals?
AY: ‘It’s impossible to have a big goal after Paris. I haven’t thought a minute past the individual men’s triathlon in Paris for the last three years, so there is a process of decompressing from that and trying to race the best I can – and to constantly think about improving within my sport and the next races I am doing, which is a lot of supertri.’
BP: ‘I haven’t really set myself any targets. I just want to race without any strings and just have fun. For the last couple of years, I feel like it has been a never-ending chase for World Series titles and winning the World Championships and Olympics, so I don’t want to put any caps on anything. I want to have fun and think that I will have good performances if I do that.’
RW: What would you say to runners who are thinking about giving triathlon a go?
AY: ‘I would say that the first step is always the hardest. A lot of people have moved across and absolutely loved it. It does seem like an intimidating thing to do, but I think there are so many like-minded people out there who are excited about the sport and it is such an amazing community to be a part of. You just have to take that first step and enjoy the process. They talk about a runner’s high but try a triathlon high – that’s a whole new level.’
BP: ‘Definitely give it a go. It has changed my life. It’s been great and you really shouldn’t set yourself limits, because you find that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.’
To see Yee and Potter in action for the first time since Paris, book your free tickets to supertri London on Sunday 8 September now.
You Might Also Like
