Lucy Charles-Barclay‘s current focus on her swimming as she works her way back to full fitness after surgery has raised the intriguing possibility of her qualifying for this year’s slimmed-down Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The reigning 70.3 and former IRONMAN World Champion returned to swimming action in February – just four weeks after undergoing plantaris tendon surgery – and clocked 17:29.40 as she won the 1,500 metres freestyle in the Women’s 18 Years & Over Essex County Championships at the London Aquatics Centre.

She was a long-distance swimmer before moving into triathlon and is widely regarded as the best in the sport in that discipline, underlined by her #1 ranking in the PTO standings.

Well ahead of schedule

And last week she improved that time by a huge 21 seconds. Competing at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Friday 13 March, Charles-Barclay recorded a time of 17:08.

That time now ranks her within the top 10 of female British swimmers this year, and as a result, she has secured her place at the Commonwealth Games trials, which will take place 14-19 April at the London Aquatics Centre, with the women’s 1,500m freestyle on Wednesday 15th. That’s a shorter distance than she swims in both middle distance (1,900m) and IRONMAN (3,800m) races.

The performance is particularly remarkable given that Charles-Barclay underwent surgery in late January to remove her plantaris tendon, a procedure that typically requires around six weeks in a protective moon boot. Despite the expected recovery timeline, she returned to the pool ahead of schedule and has rapidly built momentum in training and competition.

The Commonwealth Games trials now offer an opportunity to go up against the best long-distance swimmers in the country while continuing to compete at the highest level in triathlon.

Next month’s event will see Charles-Barclay take part as a multisport athlete stepping into an individual discipline, something we saw last year when Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee excelled at the marathon distance in running.

Confidence boost

Triathlon has featured prominently in the Commonwealth Games in the past – last time in 2022 in Birmingham it was Yee who took the men’s title while another Olympic champion in Flora Duffy won the women’s race – but it is missing in 2026 at what is a scaled-back event with only 10 sports to keep costs low and ensure financial sustainability.

However it will be the first time the women’s 1500m freestyle – one of the new, historic, long-distance events – has featured on the Commonwealth Games schedule.

The swimming programme takes place at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre between 24-29 July and the only major triathlon event in that period is T100 London. But unlike 2025 when Charles-Barclay took the title on home turf, this time there is no T100 race for pros but instead a short-course WTCS event.

Speaking about her time and qualifying for the trials, Lucy said: “I’m really pleased with how the last few weeks have gone. To take 21 seconds off my time in just 19 days has given me a lot of confidence in the work we’re doing.

“Swimming has always been a huge part of my sporting journey, so it’s exciting to step back into the pool environment and see what’s possible. I’ll be heading into the Commonwealth Games trials as a multisport athlete competing in an individual sport, which is a challenge I’m really enjoying exploring alongside my triathlon career.”

We’ve also been speaking to her coach Dan Lorang recently about the dual focus in the early part of this year and that feature will be published next week.