Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed her second world Ironman 70.3 title after coming through an “incredibly tough period” with injury and a family bereavement.
The win in Marbella came just four weeks after she was unable to finish the Ironman World Championship race in Kona, Hawaii.
“It was definitely an incredibly tough period, we had a lot going on, we had some family things happening and unfortunately we lost someone really special to us so I think that kind of changed my perspective quite a lot,” the 32-year-old said following her win.
“OK, Kona’s behind me, I’m healthy, I’m here, I guess life is short and you have to try and enjoy it.
“Thankfully it came together and put a lot of positivity into the family in what’s been a really, really tough time, so I’m so glad I could do that and honour the person we lost.”
Runner-up, American Taylor Knibb – who won the past three editions following Charles-Barclay’s 2021 success – similarly failed to finish in Kona and was only cleared to race on Friday, but the pair led from the front in the finale in Spain.
Charles-Barclay was first out of the water with a 47-second lead over Knibb and compatriot Jess Learmonth before Knibb took some time off the leader during the punishing bike stage, which included 5.8km of climbing.
Knibb then moved to the front of the run before Charles-Barclay reeled her back in, then pulled away to finish in four hours, 14mins 54 secs, three minutes ahead of Knibb.
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Source: BBC
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