Lucy Charles-Barclay says she will need to go even faster than her 2023 Kona masterclass if she is to reclaim the IRONMAN World Championship this year.
Two years ago, the British star produced one of triathlon’s all-time great performances, leading from the front to set a stunning course record of 8:24:31 on the Big Island.
Her wire-to-wire victory that day was all the more memorable as she had been runner-up on her previous four visits to Hawaii.
Pressure off – why LCB feels freer in Kona this year
But with the women’s field stronger than ever, Red Bull athlete Charles-Barclay believes the bar has been raised again.
“I think we will see a faster time win this time,” she said in an exclusive interview with TRI247. “If I want to win, I need to go quicker than I went before – and I feel confident I can do that. Of course, Kona is so condition-dependent, but I’m ready.”
It was a career-defining win in 2023 but she was unable to defend her crown last year in Nice, making the tough call on the eve of the race to swerve the event because of a calf strain.
That means the return to Kona feels even more like a “title defence” – but she also insists the pressure has eased since finally tasting victory in Hawaii.
“There’s nothing like winning in Kona for the first time – and it took me a long time to do it,” she explained. “Now the pressure’s kind of off me. Other women probably have more pressure on them than me.”
Consistency leads to running improvement
And while that untimely injury last year was a hammer blow at the time, it has led to a super-smooth 2025 season.
The 31-year-old comes into the race on the back of a big training block in Lanzarote, plus statement victories at T100 London in July and T100 Spain in August.
And she highlights consistency as the key to her improvement this year – particularly in her running.
“This is the first year in my entire career where I haven’t had a week without running,” she told us. “Every year before this one there would be weeks on my TrainingPeaks with zero kilometres of running – but not this time.
“It’s just nice to be able to run without any issues as I’m sure many people know when they’re coming back from an injury – even if you’re running slow but you haven’t got any pain, it’s the most amazing feeling.
“So then once you get fit again and you’re running fast without any pain, it’s an even better feeling.
“I’ve just been super consistent and that’s paying off – even setting 5K PBs.”
Lucy on her main rivals
With her main rivals including last year’s Nice one-two Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews as well as Taylor Knibb, Charles-Barclay knows the challenge will be fierce. But with fitness, belief and experience all aligned, she appears more ready than ever.
She added: “There’s so many strong women now. We’ve got people that are complete rookies who are lining up. We’ve obviously also got Laura Phillip, we’ve got Kat Matthews, we’ve got Taylor Knibb. So, yeah, it’s all to play for. It’s really exciting.
“But I just want to focus on myself. And that’s kind of what I’ve done all year, to be honest. I just focused on myself, on my own training and what I need to do, and then it’s about trying to just execute the best race possible on race day.
“So far, that’s gone pretty well and I think in Kona, that will be the exact same thing. I’ll have my race plan, my race strategy, and obviously you always have to be adaptable because you don’t know what anyone else is going to do.”
- Check out part two of our interview on Wednesday – Lucy on how that heart-breaking Nice decision a year ago has paid off in 2025.
To find out more about Lucy Charles-Barclay, you can visit her Red Bull athlete page here
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