Yee, Brownlee and Taylor-Brown storm WTCS in Cagliari

Alex Yee and Jonny Brownlee stormed to a brilliant British one-two in the 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series in Cagliari.

Brownlee claimed his first World Series podium since Edmonton 2019, leading on the bike before Yee stunned spectators and powered from 30th to first on the first lap of the run.

The 24-year-old finished seven seconds ahead of Brownlee in a time of 1:40.19 and now trails 1850 points behind series leader Hayden Wilde with two races to go.

In the women's race, Georgia Taylor-Brown swept up her third series win of the year, taking the victory in a time of 1:47.42 as all four British athletes crossed the line in the top 12.

Yee struggled to keep pace in the swim, coming in 33rd after the first lap but worked hard on the bike to put himself in a pivotal position to strike on the run.

But with a strong leg on the bike came pain as the double Olympic medallist was hit by cramp.

He said: "I was in so much pain those last three laps I was just trying to hold onto whatever I could.

"I've never had cramp, I just had to work so hard on the bike to get to the front, maybe I need to go back and learn something from today.

"I just thought I would invest in the little gap I did have just to make sure that I would make it to the finish line but just kept pushing.

"For me, I didn't have a very good start into the water. I was on the back foot from there.

"I tried to push on that second lap and I don't think I lost too much time there so that's a big positive but there's still a lot to learn."

Brownlee was over the moon with his second-place finish after a strong all-round performance saw him soar onto the podium.

The 32-year-old admitted that he has struggled to get into the racing mentality after his AJ Bell series crash in Leeds but found his groove and delivered a race to be proud of.

He said: "What I was most proud of today was that I actually committed to a race and got stuck in and gave it really good go on the bike.

"I felt really confident and back to my old self, dictating the race rather than being a passenger.

"I saw an opportunity and took it, but Alex was flying.

"I'm back being able to ride my bike after the crash in Leeds. It's taken me months to get that confidence back and I was enjoying it.

"I can't remember the last time I was on a World Series podium, it's nice to be back."

Taylor-Brown crossed 12 seconds ahead of second-placed French athlete Emma Lombardi and the USA's Taylor Knibb to claim the title and now sits top of the women’s series table with an impressive 3,925 points.

Fellow Briton Sophie Coldwell was not far behind in seventh, whilst Beth Potter and Kate Waugh finish 10th and 12th respectively.

"I'm really pleased. I just tried to run my own race," said Taylor-Brown.

"I tried to stay in contact with that bike group, Taylor [Knibb] made it really hard but that worked in our favour because we got a really good gap.

"I think it is still going to come down to the grand final but I've got three wins now and a second so that's all I could do."

Sportsbeat 2022