Britons Alex Yee, Beth Potter crowned first e-sports triathlon world champions in Singapore

SINGAPORE - It was a British sweep at the Arena Games Triathlon (AGT) Grand Final here on Saturday (May 7) as Alex Yee and Beth Potter were crowned the first e-sports triathlon world champions.

Despite finishing second in the Singapore leg, Yee clinched the overall title with 694 points, ahead of German Justus Nieschlag (678 points) and Frenchman Aurelien Raphael (563).

It was a similar situation for Potter as she ended the day four seconds behind Hungarian Zsanett Bragmayer but still claimed the championship with 713 points, ahead of Bragmayer (645) and fellow Briton Georgia Taylor-Brown (626).

The AGT is a hybrid event that features both physical and virtual elements. This week at the Marina Bay Reservoir, the participants had to complete a 200m open-water swim, 4km smart trainer bike leg and 1km self-powered curved treadmill run three times each.

New Zealand's Hayden Wilde, making his AGT 2022 debut, won the men's event in 36min 33sec. Yee was second in 36:42, while German Nieschlag took third in 37:02.

Yee, 24, was pleased with his result and paid tribute to his fellow competitors. He also noted that the heat and humidity, especially after a brief heavy shower, made it difficult to cool down.

He said: "I feel a bit bad for the others... luckily I raced well today and I'm glad I got the result today.

"I thought the racing couldn't get any harder, then it got harder today. It's been tough, this heat is crazy... I could see my heart rate the whole time and it's higher than it's ever been so it was very hard."

He managed to draw on his experience at the Tokyo Olympics, where he won the individual triathlon silver medal and the mixed triathlon relay gold, but added: "There was only so much I could do (to prepare for the heat) but I definitely suffered."

In the women's category, Potter and Bragmayer took turns leading before the latter triumph in 40:33, narrowly ahead of Potter (40:37)

Potter, 30, admitted that she did not feel well during Friday's heats due to the warm temperatures and made sure to eat and rest well before the final.

She said: "I tried to stay focused on each stage (today) as it was coming and you can never let up, you just have to go hard all the way to the end."