By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) – Olympic relay gold medallist Alex Yee and current world champion Beth Potter were confirmed on Thursday as the first triathletes selected for Britain’s 2024 Olympic team.
Yee, who brought Britain home in the inaugural Olympic mixed relay in 2021 and also took silver in the individual event and Potter, who raced 10,000 metres on the track in the 2016 Games, won their respective Paris test events on the Olympic course this year.
The British team is guaranteed two more women’s slots but is battling to secure a third men’s. The other athletes will be selected on a discretionary basis after a series of “targetted” races next year.
With three gold, three silver and two bronze medals, Britain is the most successful nation in Olympic triathlon, a sport introduced to the Games in 2000.
Alistair Brownlee, winner of the gold medal in 2012 and 2016, has moved up to Ironman distance racing but younger brother Jonny, with a relay gold and individual silver and bronze under his belt, is still challenging for Paris despite struggling for form and fitness this year.
Yee, however, is the form athlete and said he was relieved to get selection confirmed early.
“I’m obviously delighted. It was my goal at the beginning of the year to qualify – I needed to podium at Paris – I knew exactly what was required and I am really pleased to have executed the plan on the day,” he told journalists in London.
“I really like the course in Paris and I think it will be a brilliant event. The French athletes are strong, so I think the event will be a spectacle, which will be such a thrill, especially after missing the crowd factor in Tokyo,” added the 25-year-old.
Potter claimed four medals in the world series and who, like Yee, won individual gold and mixed team relay silver in the summer’s test event, capped a stellar year when she was crowned World Champion with victory in Pontevedra, Spain.
“Paris will be my first games as a triathlete and I am looking forward to it,” she said. “This year has been tough to get the results I needed to qualify so I am looking forward to a bit of a mini break before getting back into training with my full focus being on Paris.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
