After a 2017 horror crash, Alex Yee starts 2018 with a championship win

Now based at Leeds Beckett University, Alex Yee is one of Great Britain’s brightest multisport prospects. Winner of the World Junior Duathlon Championship in 2016 and European Junior Duathlon Championship in 2017, Yee is a proven championship performer with incredible running talent. That running speed was evident last year, when he recorded a 13:37.60 time for 5000m in Belgium last year. That time was put into context by Athletics historian and statistician, Ian Hodge, as the “Fastest by a GB Junior since 1981”.

And then… crash. At the Cagliari ITU World Cup in Italy last year, Alex was involved in a horrific, high speed crash which left him with broken ribs, vertebrae and a punctured lung. He hit a fixed concrete bollard so hard, that the bollard was moved several yards down the road. For a young man of Alex’s slight stature, he was very lucky to still be alive. How did his recovery go?

https://twitter.com/LufbraAthletics/status/959777579447222272

On Saturday, Alex raced at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Cross Country Championships at Hillingdon House Farm Sports Ground, Uxbridge – and he won the race too.

WATCH: Alex Yee (@lixsanyee) takes the #BUCSXC title for @LBUAthletics ahead of Chris Olley & @EmileCairess @BUCSsport pic.twitter.com/CxC0S1lYqR

— Vinco (@VincoSport) February 3, 2018

Great running and absolutely brilliant to see you back in racing action Alex. Best wishes for a healthy and incident-free 2018 season.

BUCS Cross Country Championships – Saturday 3rd February 2018

MEN’S LONG RACE (9.92km)

1st – Alex Yee – 32:35.2
2nd – Chris Olley – 32:38.7
3rd – Emile Cairess – 32:43.9

WOMEN’S RACE (6.88km)

1st – Harriet Knowles-Jones – 22:39.6
2nd – Phoebe Law – 22:43.2
3rd – Phillipa Bowden – 22:43.9