Latest news with #LucyCharlesBarclay
The Independent
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Lucy Charles-Barclay's career was dogged by injuries until she discovered why. Now she's back for another shot at the Ironman world title
Lucy Charles-Barclay is not a household name, and yet she might be the most complete female athlete on the planet. There is no purer sporting test than a triathlon, which makes demands on every muscle in the body, and the Ironman distance takes those demands to ludicrous extremes: running a full marathon after a refreshing 2.4-mile swim and an invigorating 112-mile bike ride, covering the distance from London to Sheffield in eight-and-a-half hours. Charles-Barclay won the Ironman World Championship in 2023 and broke the record for the iconic Kona course in Hawaii, in which the best long-distance triathletes compete through crystal blue waters and black lava fields. She will be back at Kona in a few weeks' time to try to regain the title, and the 31-year-old is in the form of her life after an emotional win at her home race in the London T100 last weekend. Yet the road to this point has been a brutal one, after three years spent battling a series of mysterious injuries from rib fractures to muscle tears to a rip in her hip cartilage, after which she was told she might never race again. She embarked on an investigation into her own anatomy, travelling to Red Bull's high performance centre near Salzburg to undergo testing. 'We really couldn't find a reason,' she says. Finally, last year, she received an answer: a diagnosis for Celiac disease, the serious autoimmune condition triggered by gluten. 'It was a lightbulb moment. Before a race I would carb load, so I would just eat pizza, pasta, all these things. I was basically poisoning myself before going into a big event.' Charles-Barclay had often competed through the pain. She won the Ironman world title after tearing her calf muscle at the start of the marathon, which crept open like a zip so that by the time she finished 26 miles later, it was 14cm long. So when she came to a halt on London's Victoria Dock during last year's T100 race – part of triathlon's new F1-style championship at glamorous locations all over the world – it had to be bad. Her achilles had blown and she was wheeled away on a golf buggy, past the fans who had come out to see her compete in the flesh. 'It was devastating,' she says. It took nearly a year after her diagnosis to feel fully healthy, but a change in diet – swapping out gluten for rice, chicken and eggs – transformed her body's resilience. Last weekend, in almost exactly the same spot where she had broken down the year before, Charles-Barclay overtook her rival Kate Waugh to lead the London race. She reached the finish straight alone, with just enough time to hype a giddy crowd inside the ExCel Centre before lifting the finish tape over her head in triumph. Then she collapsed into the arms of her coach and husband Reece, and the tears flowed. 'It doesn't quite feel real,' Charles-Barclay says, watching back the footage of her winning moment. She is talking to The Independent after a hard morning's training at the London Aquatics Centre in Olympic Park, four days after that T100 victory. 'There's so much emotion in that video. It feels a little bit weird, like it was like a real 'moment', a turning point, proving to myself that I'm back to my old ways and feeling strong again.' There was a poignancy, too, after Charles-Barclay's grandfather died in December. 'He watched all my races, most of them online because I don't race in the UK, so London last year was the final race that he actually came to watch me, and obviously I had to pull out. So it was really, really sad. We had all the family there this year apart from him, but it definitely felt like he was there with me.' Triathlon remains a fringe sport outside of its place in the Olympic Games, but T100 is bidding to change that. Its world tour operates like a Formula One season, with 20 contracted triathletes competing for points and prize money at nine destinations around the world. Races are staged in Miami, San Francisco, Ibiza and Dubai, and the champion at the end of the season scoops £150,000. The 100km competition – somewhere between a regular triathlon and an Ironman – was launched last year as a ploy to build a more consistent narrative, with the best athletes regularly going head to head. The event has lured plenty of big names including Olympic champions Flora Duffy and Alistair Brownlee, while Alex Yee is considering joining the championship next year, which would be a major coup. Triathlon is increasingly attracting the executive class, usurping golf as the go-to hobby of the CEO, but it also has a growing grassroots following. Charles-Barclay has amassed a small army of fans with half a million followers on Instagram, and a line of mostly young girls queued up after her London win to get selfies with their hero. Quietly, she is blazing a trail. 'It makes it all feel so worth it,' she says. 'Sport at this level is incredibly tough, you make a lot of sacrifices, you often feel like it's quite a selfish pursuit training all the time and not seeing family and friends very often. So to feel like you're doing it more than just for yourself, you're inspiring others – hopefully those young kids will grow up and try triathlon or get into sport, so it feels a lot bigger than just swim, bike, run.' Many of her fans were sporting the familiar 'battle braids' hairstyle that has become an essential part of the Charles-Barclay image. 'In my first ever triathlon I just decided to braid my hair to keep it out of the way, and then it became a good luck charm and I would braid my hair before every race,' she says. 'It's like I'm going into battle every time that I'm going to line up for a competition, so it's almost like a confidence thing. It's inspired young girls to braid their hair, whether it's sports day at school, or I've had young women who sit exams and they'll braid their hair just to feel a bit more confident doing it. It's become a real movement that I didn't expect and every time someone shares it online, it's just so amazing to see that.' The Olympics remains triathlon's biggest stage, and there is talk of the 100km format making its debut at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane. That may come too late for Charles-Barclay, who has never competed at the Games, and she admits it is frustrating not to get the same recognition as those who race over the shorter Olympic distance. 'We deserve it, we work so hard,' she says. 'I definitely don't do it for [recognition] but I feel like if we were given the platform, with more mainstream media sharing that journey, we've got the capacity to inspire so many new people to get involved in this fantastic sport. That's one of the main reasons why I do it.' And, of course, to win. Charles-Barclay is heading to Lanzarote for a five-week training camp before returning to Kona in October, the scene of her greatest triumph. She is, technically, the defending champion on that particular course after the World Championship made an unpopular detour to France last year, when she was out injured. It will be back in Hawaii, and so will Charles-Barclay – somehow, after everything, feeling stronger than ever. Her course record – 8hr 24min 31sec – could even be under threat. 'Hawaii's all about the conditions, so if it's super windy it will be slow on the bike,' she says. 'But I managed to win there with a torn calf, so I do believe I can go faster. I just really want to go there and get the win again.'
Yahoo
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Kate Waugh completes T100 set with silver on home soil at T100 London Triathlon 2025
Kate Waugh completed the T100 set in front of a home crowd as she finished second in Saturday's London showpiece. The Gateshead native was delighted to be cheered on by Geordie accents as she formed part of the leading pack in both the swim and the bike. She took to the front on the run but was chased down by Lucy Charles-Barclay on the final lap as her fellow Brit claimed a first win across the distance. 'It was incredible," Waugh said. "British crowds are just insane, and I heard some Geordie accents out there as well, so it was nice to have people from Newcastle watching as well. 'I am super grateful. They helped me get to that finish line when I was in a world of pain. 'It was a tough day. It was kind of really enjoyable in parts, and I was really hating it in parts as well, it was weird. 'But I am pretty content to finish second. I learnt a lot, I went out extremely hard on the run and didn't look back, and eventually it caught up with me. I'm pretty happy overall.' Waugh made a stunning T100 debut with victory in Singapore, triumphing by the largest margin ever seen in the discipline. She backed that up with a third-place finish in Vancouver and this runners-up spot in London saw her move up to second in the T100 overall standings. The 26-year-old is just six points behind leader Julie Derron, who rallied to fourth in London, and is tied with defending champion American Taylor Knibb, who finished third, over two minutes behind Waugh. With the T100 French Riviera coming up at the end of August, Waugh is looking to find her range having run out of gas on the run, eventually finishing 55 seconds adrift of Charles-Barclay. She added: 'The bike was super hard. I was really finding it tough out there, but I told myself, as soon as that elastic goes, you are out of it. 'I was determined to stay involved and stay in no matter how much it hurt, and I am so glad I did that. It definitely caught with me on the run as well. 'I knew the gap was closing, and I was trying to do everything as efficiently as possible, to take the shortest line. 'She was coming up behind me super-fast and I told myself to kind of go for it when she came past and stick on her. But the legs were gone, they were in a different place at that point. 'I think I learnt my limit. In the past two T100s, I have been a bit too conservative, so eventually I will find the happy medium.'
Yahoo
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lucy Charles-Barclay wins emotional first T100 title on home soil in London a year on from dropping out
By Milly McEvoy, Sportsbeat Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed her first T100 win in style on home turf as she banished last year's London demons. The Hertfordshire native had to drop out of the 2024 event in the capital on the running leg, but this year she surged into the lead at the same stage and enjoyed a victory lap. Charles-Barclay had previously finished on the T100 podium three times but finally made the step up to the top as she headed a British one-two ahead of Kate Waugh. 'I still can't quite believe it, especially after last year, having such a bad year and not finishing,' the 31-year-old said. 'I have completely turned it around and to win here in front of all my friends and family is amazing. 'I think that is maybe the most emotional I have ever been on the finish line, just knowing that all those people that I care about so much got to see me win." Having set the pace on the 2km swim, Charles-Barclay emerged with a two-second lead over Learmonth, with Waugh and Taylor Knibb within touching distance. Learmonth moved into an early advantage on the bike but no-one was able to establish a convincing lead with all four taking to the front across the 80km, eight-lap bike section. Charles-Barclay did give herself a narrow lead heading into the final discipline, with Knibb and Learmonth 16 and 18 seconds behind, respectively. Waugh was 11 seconds further back, but Charles-Barclay was soon reeled in with Paris Olympian Waugh moving into an 18-second advantage. Knibb was unable to hold the pace as she dropped back but with Learmonth also fading, she was assured of a podium position. Charles-Barclay refused to allow Waugh to extend her gap, and as they headed onto the fifth and final lap of the 18km run, the leader began to falter. Eventually, Charles-Barclay was able to overtake, and with Waugh unable to go with her, she was able to savour a maiden victory. She added: 'I really feel like this year I am getting back to my old self. I have just been really consistent all year in my training, and I feel like we are finally starting to see this in racing. 'Coming into this race, I knew I was in really good shape. I had an amazing training camp leading into this, and I have been away with my family, who have supported me 100 per cent and helped me to get into my best shape for this race. 'I knew I was in really good shape, I just had to play it down because last year was so bad. Just to be able to pull it all together and have a solid day all around feels amazing and getting the win makes me so happy.'
