'I feel like trying to beat people has a means to an end. But if you're working on yourself and what you can do, that's a kind of limitless outlook.'

On 27 April, Olympic and World Champion Alex Yee hit his first ever marathon start line. It was a bid to test how far he could push himself, discover what new learnings he might be able to bring to his LA2028 Olympic bid and, ultimately, fulfil a childhood ambition.

Listen to the full interview on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and wherever you get your podcasts, and watch the two-part video on Youtube.

Yee’s marathon time of 2:11:08 was nothing short of remarkable, a 26.2 mile debut that saw him finish in 14th place overall and just nine places off another Paris 2024 gold medallist: Olympic Marathon Champion Tamirat Tola. All with just four months of training in the locker.

'Probably been (running) about 600km a month for the last three months... The volume is not as high as most marathon runners because I kept a bit of tri identity in there… kind of three or four swims a week, eight hours on the bike — so a little bit's there, enough to tick over.'

'The sessions themselves were probably very similar to what most marathon runners would do. Your 30km at pace or 4 x 6km, 24km under-over — that kind of stuff. The longest session I would do in a triathlon block would probably be 6 x 2km. So to go from doing 12km worth of volume to 30km worth of intensity — it’s different.'

Always a master of understatement, there was no hiding the emotion and joy of finally being on the frontline of an event that he knows so well. Yee grew up just 3km from the start line in Greenwich Park and did the mini-marathon as a junior alongside his current Brit Tri teammates Hugo Milner and Ben Dijkstra.

'It was probably the most emotional I’ve ever been on a start line. I’ve definitely been more nervous, but to share the start line with 56,500 people who all have their own story, was incredibly powerful. You feel like you’re part of something much bigger. I understand it now in a way I never did just watching it.'

As for his time and pacing, Yee had the benefit of Milner as a pacer to halfway, hitting the mark almost perfectly on the prescribed 64 minutes. The heat would take a toll over the final stages, though, and made it difficult to stay consistent after the 34km mark. His heart rate drifted, and his legs shut down, the uncharted territory exposing his limits but also asking questions and opening realms he would never otherwise have been able to.

'The marathon is like triathlon — it’s about marrying up hundreds of different factors into one performance. In triathlon, I probably have 90% of those processes figured out. But going into the marathon, I didn’t know how many I had. Now I come out of it and feel like maybe I’ve got 40%. It’s a big spider’s web, and now I can start adding more threads if I do another one. That understanding alone is so valuable.'

Physically prepared and driven by the desire to stay curious and avoid stagnation following the highs of Olympic and World Championship wins, Yee would face a disconnect between mental will and physical capability, a humbling contrast to the triathlon experience, where cardiovascular endurance is typically the limiting factor.

Looking ahead, the schedule remains wide open until early 2026, ready to be filled by whatever he and the team feel like exploring next. Whether that’s another marathon or a return to the blue carpet, the focus is on continuous improvement and enjoying the journey. The marathon has left him physically wiser and emotionally enriched, offering new tools and lessons for the next phase of his career.