Lucy Charles-Barclay headlines stellar start list as women’s field for Miami T100 announced

Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay will kick off her 2024 season next weekend at the Miami T100, after the PTO released the initial start list for the women’s race at the first T100 Triathlon World Tour event.

Out of the 20 women set to compete in Florida, 12 names from the pool of contracted athletes have been confirmed, with the remaining eight wildcards announced tomorrow.

In addition to Charles-Barclay, former IRONMAN World Champions Anne Haug and Daniela Ryf are set to start in what will be an incredibly exciting race held at the iconic Homestead Miami Speedway.

Who will be racing?

Next weekend, Haug and Charles-Barclay will be the only PTO Top 5 ranked athletes racing, with the pair going head-to-head for the first time since Charles-Barclay took a maiden IRONMAN World Championship title last year in Kona.

Both coached by acclaimed German Dan Lorang, it will be interesting to see how fit both athletes are coming off a long winter break, with neither having raced since competing in Hawaii almost five months ago.

Other notable names on the start list are multiple time IRONMAN World Champion Ryf, who is somewhat of a dark horse over the 100km distance, and Britain’s Kat Matthews, who recently announced she would be balancing both the T100 Tour and IRONMAN Pro Series in 2024.

Full line up of contracted T100 athletes:

1. Anne Haug (GER)
2. Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR)
3. Kat Matthews (GBR)
4. Paula Findlay (CAN)
5. Daniela Ryf (SUI)
6. Imogen Simmonds (SUI)
7. Emma Pallant-Browne (GBR)
8. Skye Moench (USA)
9. Tamara Jewett (CAN)
10. India Lee (GBR)
11. Holly Lawrence (GBR)
12. Lucy Byram (GBR)

Who is missing from the start list?

Of the eight missing contracted athletes, three are focused on preparing for the Paris Olympics Games, with American duo Taylor Spivey and Taylor Knibb plus defending Olympic Champion Flora Duffy absent from the start list in Miami.

Multiple time PTO race winner Ashleigh Gentle is another absentee, with the Australian instead choosing to focus on starting her season at the second race of the tour, which will be held in April in Singapore.

2022 IRONMAN Champion Chelsea Sodaro is instead racing IRONMAN New Zealand this weekend, having kicked off her season in January, with two podiums in Tauranga and Tasmania to her name already in 2024.

French star Marjolaine Pierre, Kiwi Amelia Watkinson and IRONMAN World Championship podium finisher Laura Philipp make up the remaining contracted athletes skipping the Miami event. Tomorrow, the PTO will announce the wildcards who will take their place.