Alex Yee of England wins first gold medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games

One by one, Alex Yee caught them all. Dying in the water, resurrected on his bike and a demon of speed in his shoes, he broke their breakaway and then he broke their spirit.

By the time he pulled level with the last of the damned, Hayden Wilde, his great rival and close friend knew the game was up, and so he could only smile and offer a pat on the back as Yee went past.

With it, this 24-year-old from Lewisham delivered England their first gold of these Games and a reminder, if any were needed, that the Brownlees have their successor, here and further afield.

There will be some who question the value of prizes on this stage, but not those who know triathlon, and certainly not those who know Wilde. There are always cheaper medals to be found at the Commonwealth Games, but the New Zealander is no easy mark – he is the world No 2 and he took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

But he lost out on silver to Yee in Japan and he was beaten to gold by him in this park a little north of Birmingham. And what a race it was, spoiled only fractionally by Wilde’s realisation on the 5km run that he would need to serve a 10-second penalty for unclipping his helmet too early in the second transition. But even then he knew it would academic – Yee was going to catch him anyway.

That from a 15-second deficit after the 750m swim and the same after the 20km cycle, timings that saw Yee 16th out of the water and only fifth going into the run. It is important to realise at this stage that Wilde is a seriously good runner at the distance – his best on a track is 13:29 and he even flirted with the idea of qualifying for the track and field portion of the Games.

But Yee is that bit quicker - quick enough to be an international runner in his own right and the best on the roads in his sport. And so he brought the race back to him, and then he took it away from them, eventually passing Wilde inside the final kilometre and collapsing to the ground after 50 minutes and 34 seconds. It was then that he declared it his finest achievement, surpassing his Olympic silver medal and the gold he won in the team event.

‘This is a home Games and it’s the first time I’ve been able to race in front of my parents for a long time,’ he said. ‘I’d probably say that it’s my greatest moment ever.

‘I don't think there'll be an opportunity in my life to get to do this again. Starting this year this was my big goal. There’s a world title up for grabs, but for me I really pinpointed this.’

While Wilde was formally protesting his 10-second penalty, there was no concern from Yee – even without that assistance he had three seconds on the Kiwi. When it was done, they hugged, which is probably fitting for what they brand as the ‘Friendly Games’.

‘We’re great friends on and off the course so it’s really special to share moments like that with people,’ Yee said.

‘When we spoke near the end we just said well done to each other. I said, “I’m sorry you got a penalty, mate”, because everyone wants to see a sprint finish, everyone wants to see an exciting race. But there will be plenty more battles along the way.’

Together, their rivalry is already said to be one of the most compelling in triathlon in recent years, layered by the fact it was a crash caused by Wilde earlier this year that led to one of Yee’s heroes, Jonny Brownlee, missing out on the Games here with injury. As a training partner to both Jonny and the retired double Olympic gold medallist Alistair, Yee achieved some level of revenge, not that he is the sort to see that way.

Four hours later, Georgia Taylor-Brown, who won individual silver and team gold alongside Yee and Jonny Brownlee in Tokyo - was second again in the women’s triathlon. The 28-year-old was tied for the lead through the swim and cycle with Olympic champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda, but wilted on the run.

She said: ‘I just didn’t have the legs today. I felt flat all day so I’m extra happy with the silver. I’m a bit bored of coming second to Flora constantly so we need to change that.’