Lucy Charles-Barclay Explained

Lucy Anne Charles-Barclay
Country:UK
Birth Date:15 September 1993
Birth Place:Hoddesdon, England
Agent:BPM Sport
Height:170cm
Weight:58kg
Coach:Reece Barclay
Coaching:Pulse Fitness Triathlon
Show-Medals:yes

Lucy Charles-Barclay (born 15 September 1993) is an English professional triathlete specialising in the Ironman and 70.3 ("half-Ironman") distances. She is the 2023 World Ironman champion and the 2021 World Champion in the 70.3 discipline, both under the authority of the World Triathlon Corporation. In between, she won the World Triathlon Long Distance Championships in 2022.[1] In 2023, she broke the course record for the iconic Kona Ironman course.

Prior to taking up triathlon, Charles was an elite distance and open water swimmer. She attempted to gain selection for the British swimming team for the 2012 Olympic trials in both the pool and open water. She was, however, unsuccessful, despite having beaten open water trials winner Keri-anne Payne in the Great North Swim a month previously. Charles subsequently made her debut in triathlon in 2014 and went on to win the 18–24 women’s age category at the 2015 Ironman World Championship as an amateur. She subsequently turned professional. Husband, Reece Barclay is a British professional IronMan triathlete as-well and also coaches Lucy at the professional level.

During her first Ironman of 2018, the African Ironman Championship, she set a new personal best time of 8:56:10. This beat her previous best from the 2017 Ironman Worlds, where she came in with a time of 8:59:48 and was a runner-up behind Daniela Ryf.[2]

In 2021, she won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, finishing over 8 minutes faster than her nearest competitor.

Early years

Charles was born north of London, England. When Charles was 8 years old, she started swimming. A year later she was beating other swimmers that were three or four years older than her. She convinced her coaches to let her compete in events such as the 200-metre butterfly. By the age of 16 she was a national champion. In 2010, there was a test event in which Charles competed, she finished 16th, the top competitor from Great Britain. She was 17 at the time and it was her first ever 10K swim. The Olympic Games 2012 were hosted in London, and the 10K open-water swim, which is seen as the marathon in swimming, was part of it for the second time.[3]

For the 2012 Olympics, Charles's biggest competitor was Keri-Anne Payne, who had already won an Olympic silver medal at the open water debut in 2008. Although Charles was doing really well on the build up towards the Olympics it wasn’t enough to be selected. Britain had only one slot, which went to Payne. Charles who was still a teenager at the time was so devastated, that at some point in 2013 she lost the motivation to only keep swimming for the next Olympic opportunity in 2016.[3]

In 2014, at age 19, she started her first triathlon. At the time Charles had no experience of competitive running or cycling.[3] In her second year, in 2015, Charles not only qualified for the World Championships but won in her age-group. In the same year, she became U23 World Champion in Ironman 70.3. In 2016 she became a professional triathlon athlete.[3] [4]

Triathlon career

In May 2017, Charles won Ironman Lanzarote.[5] Furthermore she also won the Challenge Family's The Championship. She also won a second place at the Ironman European Championships. She won the swim in that race in 48:29 minutes and finished the race only 4 minutes behind winner Sarah Crowley. At the Ironman World Championship in October 2017, she again landed a second place behind four time World Champion Daniela Ryf.[6] [7]

In April 2018, at Ironman South Africa, Charles won her second Ironman race. In the same year she again won Challenge's The Championship. In September, she came second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. At the 2018 Ironman World Championship in October she again landed in second place behind Daniela Ryf and broke the swim record with 48:13 minutes. Her overall time of 8:36:24 is the second fastest in race history.[4] [8] [9]

In 2019, Charles won Challenge Roth and the European Ironman Championships with her personal record of 8:31:09 hours for the entire race.[10]

She followed that with a third consecutive second place finish at the 2019 Ironman World Championship, clocking 8:46:44.

In 2021, she won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, finishing over 8 minutes faster than her nearest competitor.[11]

Charles lives in Chingford, Essex, and is coached by her husband Reece.

Notable results

Some of Lucy Charles's notable achievements include:

! Date! Event! Rank
14 October 20232023 IRONMAN World Championship1
18 September 20211[12]
12 October 20192
7 July 20192019 Challenge Roth, Germany 1[13]
7 April 20192019 Ironman African Championship, South Africa 1
13 October 20182[14]
1 September 2018IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, South Africa2 [15]
2 June 2018Challenge Championship1 [16]
15 April 20182018 Ironman African Championship, South Africa 1 [17]
14 October 20172 [18] [19]
2 September 2017Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote2 [20]
9 July 2017Ironman European Championship Frankfurt 2 [21]
3 June 2017Challenge Championship1 [22] [23]
20 May 2017Ironman Lanzarote1 [24]
21 May 2016Ironman Lanzarote3 [25]
10 October 20151 (18–24 age group) [26]
30 August 20151 (18–24 age group) [27]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2021-09-24. A perfect day: How Lucy Charles-Barclay answered every last question. 2021-11-19. Tri247.com. en-GB.
  2. Web site: Iron woman Lucy Charles: 'I kept willing my body to fight that little bit longer' . Ingle . Sean . Sean Ingle . 23 October 2017. theguardian.com. 23 October 2017.
  3. Web site: Lucy Charles-Barclay is Rewriting the Rules of Ironman Racing. Culp. Brad. 2019-08-21. Triathlete. en-US. 2019-08-29.
  4. Web site: Lucy Charles. Red Bull. en. 2019-08-29.
  5. Web site: Bruns steigt aus Aernouts und Charles gewinnen Ironman Lanzarote. triathlon - Insider. Coach. Experte.. de. 2019-08-29.
  6. Web site: Lionel Sanders und Lucy Charles gewinnen The Championship. 2017-06-03. triaguide - alles über Triathlon. de-DE. 2019-08-29.
  7. News: The Championship: GB's Lucy Charles wins women's race as Alistair Brownlee retires. 2017-06-03. 2019-08-29. en-GB.
  8. Web site: Charles and Potts Voted the. IRONMAN.com. en-US. 2019-08-29.
  9. Web site: The Championship: Lucy Charles, Lionel Sanders repeat in Samorin. 2018-06-04. Tri247.com. en-GB. 2019-08-29.
  10. Web site: Lucy Charles-Barclay wins Challenge Roth. 220Triathlon. en. 2019-08-29.
  11. Web site: DeMille. David. Wire-to-wire: Lucy Charles-Barclay dominates to win first IRONMAN 70.3 world championship. 2021-12-02. The Spectrum. en-US.
  12. Web site: Ironman 70.3 World Championship: Lucy Charles-Barclay delivers stunning victory.
  13. Web site: Lucy Charles-Barclay outswims, outruns women at Roth. Carlson. Timothy. 7 July 2019. 7 July 2019. Slowtwitch.com.
  14. Web site: Ryf Resurrects Her Race From Ruins, Takes 4th Kona Title. Empfield. Dan. 13 October 2018. 18 October 2018. Slowtwitch.com.
  15. Web site: Ironman website. https://web.archive.org/web/20181001220540/http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman-70.3/70.3-world-championship-womens-race/results.aspx#axzz5Sh9HDA6N. 1 October 2018. 2 October 2018. dead.
  16. Web site: Challenge - The Championship. app.challengedata.io. en. 2018-10-02.
  17. Web site: 09/1/2018 Results: IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship. 1 June 2018. Challenge - The Championship. Challenge Family. 2 October 2018.
  18. Web site: Ironman World Championship 2017 - Top Women. 14 October 2017. 15 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  19. Web site: Ironman World Championships: Lucy Charles second on debut. 15 October 2017. 15 October 2017. BBC.
  20. Web site: Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote 2017 - Top Women. 2 September 2017. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  21. Web site: Ironman European Championship - Top Women. 9 July 2017. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  22. Web site: Challenge Championship - Top Women. 3 June 2017. 14 October 2017. Challenge Family.
  23. Web site: The Championship: GB's Lucy Charles wins women's race as Alistair Brownlee retires. 3 June 2017. 14 October 2017. BBC.
  24. Web site: Ironman Lanzarote 2017 - Top Women. 20 May 2017. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  25. Web site: Ironman Lanzarote 2016 - Top Women. 21 May 2016. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  26. Web site: 2015 Ironman World Championship - Female 18–24 AG. 10 October 2015. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.
  27. Web site: 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Female 18–24 AG. 30 August 2015. 14 October 2017. World Triathlon Corporation.