Lucy Charles-Barclay produced a magnificent performance – and comeback – to win a second IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in dominant style in Marbella.
The British superstar was bouncing back from a blow up midway through the run at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona just four weeks previously.
That day she had been part of an epic duel up front with American Taylor Knibb only for both of them to be undone by the heat and humidity in Hawaii – and there were serious doubts as to whether either of them would have recovered in time to line up in southern Spain.
But not only did they make the start line, they then proceeded to boss the race in similar style – but thankfully this time without the late heartbreak.
Charles-Barclay led out the swim, with Knibb her closest challenger. The positions were flipped on the bike and then on the run LCB moved back into the lead after 7km and was never threatened after that as Knibb had to settle for second rather than claim what would have been a record-breaking fourth successive 70.3 Worlds title.
German short-course star Tanja Neubert ran through the field on the run to round out the podium in third but Briton Kat Matthews’ hopes of a first world crown after four successive second places were ended by a calf injury early on the run just as she was cutting the gap on the front two.
Swim – LCB makes statement start
The race started at 07:50 local time in what were pretty much ideal conditions – 15 degrees Celsius air temperature and 17.6 in the water for the wetsuit swim.
The athletes had a very short run off Levante Beach in Puerto Banús into what were relatively calm waters of the Mediterranean.
Charles-Barclay had started in a central position and she moved into the lead virtually straight away. Jess Learmonth (GBR) was briefly able to hold onto her feet but not for long and soon the ‘mermaid’ was in her familiar position of being out on her own.
Knibb had started on the far right and it took her a little bit of time to move up the field but once things settled down she was up to second, just ahead of Learmonth and Djenyfer Arnold (BRA) – though the three were already some distance behind LCB at this point.
Matthews and pretty much all the other pre-race favourites were in the next chase pack and that pattern continued for the rest of one-lap 1.9km swim.
Charles-Barclay was out of the water first in 25:05, with Knibb at +47s, and Learthmonth at +49s. Arnold by now had dropped back to fourth at +1:54.
The big chase group was led by Nicole Van Der Kaay (NZL) at 2:05, with Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) just behind in sixth on her 70.3 Worlds debut.
Matthews was right there at +2:12 as were Paula Findlay (CAN) and Ellie Salthouse (AUS) while recently-crowned IRONMAN World Champion Solveig Løvseth (NOR) was at the back of that group in 17th place.
Bike – Knibb quickest once again
The first thing to say about the one-lap 90km bike course was that it was spectacular – and featured no less than 1,785 metres of climbing and rapid descents.
Knibb wasted little time in closing the gap on LCB and the Brit was within her sights early on the first big climb, with Knibb easing past just before the 10km mark.
The gap between Charles-Barclay and Learmonth in third was staying constant though, at 48s.
Sif Bendix Madsen (DEN) was at 1:54 in fourth on what was her first race after an injury-hit 15 months, with Findlay and Matthews almost exactly two minutes behind in fifth and sixth.
Knibb quickly put nearly 20 seconds into Charles-Barclay but she didn’t really get any further away than that – the American star would extend on the climbs before LCB cut the gap on the downhills and she was back in front after 27km.
The pattern continued – and the Kona parallels were still obvious – after 35.6km Knibb was back in lead, with LCB at +5s and two more pairs after that – Learmonth and Findlay at +2:37, then Matthews and Bendix Madsen at +3:45.
Into the second half and while it was nip and tuck between Knibb and Charles-Barclay, they were continuing to put time into the chasers.
After 60km it was a four-woman chase group as Learmonth, Findlay, Bendix Madsen and Matthews joined together but soon after Findlay – the multiple Canadian time trial champion – was the one to lose touch as she dropped 30 seconds back.
They now had more than four minutes to make up on the front duo, though on the descent back to Marbella they finally started to reduce that.
Knibb was first into T2 in a bike split of 2:28:36 – significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly it was the fastest – and the last 11 winners of this race had gone quickest on the bike. But it was nearly 20 minutes slower than Taupo last year (2:10:09), underlining the testing nature of the Marbella course and just how much it had strung out the field.
Charles-Barclay was 19 seconds back going into T2 but would reduce that to seven seconds starting the run after Knibb struggled to get her supershoes on.
Matthews, Learmonth, Bendix Madsen were all together at 3:49 back and with work to do – but worth pointing out at this point that Matthews was 3:46 quicker than Knibb on the run in Taupo last year.
Findlay dropped more than a minute and a half in the closing stages in sixth and Løvseth was exactly eight minutes adrift in eighth.
Run – Calf strain derails Matthews
In stark contrast to the bike, the two-lap run was essentially flat and the headline early on was the incredible fast start from Matthews in third.
What had been a 3:49 gap on the front two was down to 2:45 before the 5km mark – but then disaster struck.
She came to a sudden halt with what looked like a left calf issue before sitting down and trying to work on it.
She did get moving again but was in obvious pain. Unfortunately the DNF would come not long after, though she at least knew a second successive Pro Series $200,000 bonus beckoned unless Løvseth could produce something incredible to get within 100 seconds of the winner.
Matthews’ husband Mark updated everyone on social media soon afterwards, saying that Kat had suffered a calf strain just under two weeks before the race – more details here.
Findlay too – who had been dealing with a hip problem in the build up – would also exit the race at around the same point.
Meanwhile Charles-Barclay was looking super smooth and she eased past Knibb and into the lead just after the 7km point.
One of the fastest out on the course though was WTCS star Neubert who had powered her way up through the field and into third in what was only her second 70.3 race after finishing second in Bahrain late last year.
But Charles-Barclay was making serene progress up front, all the more remarkable after what had happened less than a month ago in Kona, and she was able to soak in the acclaim as she closed in on a second 70.3 world title after her 2021 triumph in St. George in addition to her 2023 IRONMAN World Championship success in Kona.
She stopped the clock in 4:14:53 after a fastest-of-the-day 1:17 half marathon as the emotions flowed.
Knibb lost nothing in defeat as she crossed the line three minutes back, a quite incredible turnaround of her own, with Neubert in third.
And Taylor-Brown showed what a force she can be at this distance as she ran through into fourth late on.
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Results
Saturday November 8, 2025 – Marbella, Spain [1.9km swim / 90km bike / 21.1km run]
Pro Women
- Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) – 4:14:54
- Taylor Knibb (USA) – 4:17:55
- Tanja Neubert (GER) – 4:22:07
Full results and splits to follow shortly…
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