Triathlon superstar Lucy Charles-Barclay goes back to where it all started for next Ironman challenge

Lucy Charles-Barclay is going back to where it all began for her next Ironman challenge.

British superstar Charles-Barclay went from triathlon novice to double world champion in the 70.3 and IRONMAN 18-24 categories within two years at the start of her career.

Now the 2021 IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion and 2023 IRONMAN World Champion is about to return to the scene of her very first triumph in the sport.

LCB on IM Lanzarote bid

Posting on her Instagram account, the 31-year-old wrote: “I’m going back to where it all started… @ironmanlanzarote the setting of my Pro debut (2016), and a year later my first Pro Ironman win 🏆 (2017).

“Anyone who’s followed my journey since then knows I love the challenging conditions of a volcanic island 🌋 I can’t wait to get back out there and take it on again 🏊🏻‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️🏃‍♀️”

Lanzarote has always held a special place in Charles-Barclay’s heart. After quitting a promising swimming career, she proved British Triathlon wrong for initially rejecting her application for a Pro Licence by finishing third there in her debut.

And though her rookie season would come to a premature end with a stress fracture of the tibia, she quickly rose to the upper reaches of the sport.

And when she returned to a year after that debut race, she didn’t just win, she broke the course record on the way to victory.

Her time of 9:35:39 would have been good enough for second place in last year’s race, which was won by German great Anne Haug in a time of 9:06:40. Haug remains the only athlete to beat Charles-Barclay’s time since that win in 2017.

Last year did not pan for LCB – she started it on top of the world after beating the best female long-distance athletes on the planet to finally claim the moniker of IRONMAN World Champion in Kona, Hawaii.

But an Achilles scare, a bout of food poisoning and a calf strain knocked her off course for the rest of the campaign.

She described last year as “hard times” in an emotional Insta post last December but is determined to attack 2025 with gusto, and looks in good form after finishing third in the T100 in Singapore earlier this month. Now, she looks set to make new memories in Lanzarote, where there is also $25,000 in prize money up for grabs.