Flurry of medals for West Yorkshire's Olympic athletes on day five of Paris Games

Leeds Beckett graduate Alex Yee and rower Georgie Brayshaw both won gold in their events

Alex Yee and Georgie Brayshaw
Author: Liam ArrowsmithPublished 31st Jul 2024

There's been a flurry of medals for West Yorkshire's athletes at the Paris Olympics, including two golds and two bronzes.

Triathlete Alex Yee - who graduated from Leeds Beckett - produced a stunning finish to make up a 14 second gap on rival Hayden Wilde, from New Zealand.

Yee, who claimed silver in Tokyo, 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.

It came just hours after Beth Potter - from Leeds - picked up bronze in the women's event - saying she felt "relief" at coming away with a medal.

Both races were able to take place as scheduled after the water quality in the Seine was deemed safe for swimming.

In the rowing, Georgie Brayshaw, from Leeds, won gold alongside teammates Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott and Lola Anderson in the women's quadruple sculls.

There was also a bronze medal for Huddersfield's Lois Toulson in the women's synchronised 10m diving.

She and partner Andrew Spendolini-Sirieix jumped into second at the end of round two, but entering the more difficult dives, they could only post 60.3 in the third round, causing them to tumble into fifth.

They responded well in the final rounds, scoring a 77.76 on their final dive and following a nervous wait their spot on the podium was all but confirmed after nearest rivals Canada could only score 68.16 on their last dive.

Chinese pair Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan successfully defended their Olympic gold, while North Korea pair Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mirae earned silver.

Toulson insisted the pair refused to give up going into the final rounds.

She said: "We knew our last two dives were the hardest degree of difficulty, so if we got those down we'd be back up at the top.

"We never gave up or thought it was over, we really kept pushing."

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