Alex Yee produced a stunning finish to emulate Alistair Brownlee as Britain’s second Olympic triathlon champion - before the women's quadruple sculls pulled off a remarkable comeback of their own to clinch a dramatic rowing gold just 10 minutes later.
A triumphant hour for Team GB began when the 26-year-old Londoner, who went into the delayed race as the favourite, looked to have been beaten by his big rival Hayden Wilde from New Zealand as he trailed by 14 seconds going into the final lap of the 10 kilometre run.
But Yee had kept enough in his legs and surged past Wilde in the final stages to cross the finish line first on the Pont Alexandre III before being sportingly embraced by the silver medalist.
Having seen his compatriot Beth Potter take bronze in the women's race earlier in the day, Yee dived into the Seine and managed to keep in touch with the leaders, heading through the first transition in 16th place and quickly joining a big front group for the 40 kilometre bike leg around the centre of Paris.
Wilde was in the second pack so Yee tried to help drive the pace rather than sit in, but the two groups came together with three laps to go.
Sam Dickinson, making his Olympic debut for Britain, led the way onto the 10km run, with Yee well placed in fourth, and the Tokyo silver medallist soon surged into the lead as his team-mate called for crowd support.
Yee is a former British champion over 10,000m, and he sped off into the distance but Wilde refused to let him get away and put in a big effort to catch up.
The New Zealander was not content to sit with Yee, though, and quickly passed him, with the British athlete seemingly unable to respond as temperatures rose into the high 20s.
Yee settled into second, comfortably holding off France’s Leo Bergere behind him, but he had a final surprise in store as he surged to a second Olympic gold having also topped the podium as part of the mixed relay in Tokyo.
Rowing quartet snatch gold
Just minutes later at the Stade nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne, Great Britain’s women’s quadruple sculls crew claimed gold in a dramatic race to the line with the Netherlands.
Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, and Lauren Henry made a cautious start before moving past Ukraine into second spot behind the Dutch.
The 2023 world champions produced a storming finish in the final 250 metres – and a photo-finish was declared as the two boats crossed the line.
But it was the British crew who were punching the air with the margin of victory given as 0.15 seconds.
Great Britain missed out on a men’s quadruple sculls medal with a fourth-placed behind the Netherlands, Italy and Poland.
The quartet of Tom Barras, Graeme Thomas, Callum Dixon and Matthew Haywood were fourth at the first 500m marker and were unable to close the gap on their rivals.
The Netherlands took gold ahead of Italy and Poland, with the British crew just two seconds adrift of third spot.
Gold medal favourites Emily Craig and Imogen Grant progressed to the final of the lightweight women’s double sculls.
The British pair, unbeaten since missing out on a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics by 0.01 seconds, were threatened by New Zealand in the early stages of their semi-final.
Craig and Grant gradually pulled away to cross the finish line over three seconds ahead, while Ireland’s Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen also qualified for Friday’s final.
Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George, who won bronze at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s eight, claimed second place in their pairs semi-final behind Romania.
Ireland’s Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney finished third to also make Friday’s final.
Great Britain’s Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards missed out on a place in the women’s pairs final, as did Ireland duo Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh.
Ireland’s Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan qualified fastest for the lightweight men’s double sculls final, ahead of main rivals Italy.
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