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This weekend's London Marathon will see Alex Yee take to the start line as one of the home favourites. The Olympic gold medallist has spoken about his training and diet as he aims to maximise his performance in endurance events but it's not just about supplements - the 28-year-old also relies on the humble banana to get him in race shape. Yee, who won the men's individual triathlon at the Paris Olympics after a phenomenal comeback, only ran his first competitive marathon in 2025. However, he is already second on the British all-time list behind Sir Mo Farah and will be back in action in his home city on Sunday.

With that in mind, many will view Yee as someone worth listening to when it comes to race preparation. He won individual silver and team gold at the 2020 Olympics before reeling in New Zealand's Hayden Wilde to triumph in Paris, after which he opened up on how he gets himself in shape for the challenge. "I have a very specific pre-race routine that I've practiced over the last 18 months of racing, which involves taking some carbs in on the bike and then a gel during the run and a few other gels during the race," he told GQ in 2024. "I use a supplement called Bicarb to help with lactate that allows you to essentially push into your red line a little bit longer and harder. It's been used for years in track cycling and rowing and really short, sharp events, but people are starting to find benefit within endurance events."

While that kind of optimisation comes alongside the hard work of putting together a proper training programme, Yee also values his safer foods. This is where bananas, which can cost as little as 16p, come into the equation.

"The other critical thing is having enough carbs and making sure you eat quite plain foods before the race," he added. "I'll have plain rice with some honey and banana the morning of the race.

"And then the days before the race, I was having plain white rice with one protein source - chicken or salmon or something like that. It's just safe food without any risk of discomfort."

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It's not just about comfort, though. Bananas have been identified as a useful food in helping reduce blood pressure, demonstrating their benefit to everyone - not just experienced marathoners and triathletes.

"Usually, when we have high blood pressure, we are advised to eat less salt,"said professor Anita Layton, of the University of Waterloo, Canada. "Our research suggests that adding more potassium-rich foods to your diet, such as bananas or broccoli, might have a greater positive impact on your blood pressure than just cutting sodium."

Scientists at the Canadian university developed a model looking at how the human body is impacted by the ratio of potassium to sodium in the human body, including examining differences between men and women. "Early humans ate lots of fruits and vegetables, and as a result, our body's regulatory systems may have evolved to work best with a high potassium, low sodium diet," doctoral candidate Melissa Stadt said in the findings, which were made public in 2025.

"Today, western diets tend to be much higher in sodium and lower in potassium. That may explain why high blood pressure is found mainly in industrialised societies, not in isolated societies."

Yee set his marathon personal best in Valencia last year when compatriot Emile Cairess paced him to a time nearly five minutes quicker than his debut showing in London. He was due to return the favour on home soil this year after being announced as the pacemaker and will still run despite Cairess pulling out through injury.

"It was an incredible experience to race the TCS London Marathon last year," Yee said after being confirmed for the 2026 edition. "As a Londoner, I thought I knew what to expect, but the crowds, the support and the atmosphere was more impressive than I ever imagined. Even though I won't be doing the full 26.2 miles again this year, I'm looking forward to soaking up the experience again."