YORK’S Sam Dickinson sacrificed his own race to pilot teammate Alex Yee to a stunning gold in the Men's Triathlon at the Paris Olympics.

The 27-year-old did lead the race into the third and final transition after battling back after the swim leg, but withdrew at the beginning of the run in order to rest his legs for Monday’s mixed-team relay – in which Britain are among the medal favourites.

But he did expend his all in order to hand his teammate the lead.

Yee fell 12 seconds behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde during the run, but recovered to spectacularly top the podium after overtaking his rival with just two corners remaining.

The Briton crossed the line in 1:43:33, six seconds ahead of Wilde, with Frenchman Leo Bergere a further four seconds back to take bronze.

"I don't know what to say to be honest," Yee told BBC Sport. "I'm a bit lost for words.

"I'm so grateful to everyone who's been in my corner for the last few years. That was for them.

"At 5k I was going through a real bad patch, but at 2.5k I just thought 'I'm going to give myself one last chance at this and I'm not going to give up.'

"Here we are, and I'm still a bit lost for words."

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Originally scheduled to take place yesterday morning, the Men’s Triathlon was postponed due to concerns over the water quality of the River Seine – with the heavy rain during last week’s Opening Ceremony a contributing factor.

Friday had been earmarked as a potential replacement day for the race, but both the Men’s and Women’s Triathlons were able to take place after an inspection in the early hours of the morning.

Britain’s Beth Potter took bronze in the Women’s event, with teammate, Leeds’ Georgia Taylor-Brown, back in sixth. Parisian Cassandre Beaugrand emerged to take gold in front of her home crowd ahead of Switzerland's Julie Derron.

Dickinson was just over 30 seconds behind after the swim leg, finding himself in a group with Tokyo gold medallist, Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt and medal hopeful Wilde.

Yee emerged behind leaders Henry Schoeman and French pair Bergere and Pierre Le Corre, but had brought himself back into medal contention by the end of the first bike lap as a 19-man group formed at the front of the race.

And with Wilde also keen to fight back, a 13-strong chase pack were able to bridge the gap during the bike leg, swelling the lead group to 32.

Dickinson, who beat triathlon legend Jonny Brownlee to the final Olympic selection spot, did at times lead the race as he looked to pilot Yee, one of triathlon’s best 10k runners, towards the front for the third and final transition.

And the former St Peter’s School pupil was the first to begin his run.

However, having piloted Yee to the front of the race, he retired, saving his legs for Monday’s mixed-team relay, in which Britain have a fantastic chance of a medal.