Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee will compete at a Diamond League event for the first time in seven years when he races over 5,000m in Monaco on Friday – live on the BBC.
Since delivering one of the standout moments of the Paris 2024 Games, Yee has experimented with marathon running – making his debut in London last year before running what was then the second-fastest time by a Briton in history in Valencia.
The 28-year-old has begun his transition back to triathlon this year, but remains keen to take himself out of his comfort zone when the opportunity arises.
“I think we’ve always seen this kind of template of how we should look to prepare for an Olympic Games. I’m trying to look in slightly different avenues to be able to unlock new performances,” Yee told BBC Sport.
“For me, an important thing throughout this all is just learning, being able to take in these opportunities, and come out the other side as a better athlete overall.”
Yee last contested a Diamond League 5,000m race in London in 2019 and has a personal best of 13 minutes 13.89 seconds.
He will test himself against a stellar field, featuring the two fastest athletes this year in Addisu Yihune and Birhanu Balew, world silver medallist Isaac Kimeli and 10,000m world champion Jimmy Gressier.
“New challenges excite me. I’ve grown from being almost the smallest person in the room. These are the points where you do your fastest learning and improving, and I really felt like I did that between the London and Valencia marathons,” said Yee.
“To be able to do that in a similar environment with the Diamond League is really exciting.”
Fellow Britons Matthew Hudson-Smith (400m), Jake Wightman and Ben Pattison (1000m), Kimani Jack (high jump) are also in action, live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website and app 19:00-21:00 on Friday.
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