Great Britain's Lucy Charles-Barclay Claims Victory
Briton Lucy Charles-Barclay cemented her name in the history books at the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship with a finish time of 4:14:54 on the streets of Marbella, and the region of Andalucia, claiming her second world title.
After bowing out late into the run of last month’s World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i, the British athlete made a remarkable comeback storming to victory ahead of America’s Taylor Knibb, who also sought redemption after retiring from a late lead in Hawai’i. Germany’s Tanja Neubert completed the day’s podium with a third place finish on her World Championship debut.
“The day started pretty well, right out of the swim I had a look back and saw that I had a decent gap. Out on the bike I had company with Taylor, obviously, I know how phenomenal she is on the bike, I knew if I could stay with her, it could be my ticket to the win today,” said Charles-Barclay after the win.
“I felt super strong on that run, and I just couldn’t be more happy with how the day panned out. It’s been a really tough time and we’ve had some really tough family things going on. I had some angel wings out there today and I think they helped me fly around the course. I’m really grateful that I could do that for them and all the team that have gotten me here. It hasn’t been easy, but we made it, and it has definitely made up for the disappointment of Kona, for sure.”
A bright view of the planet Venus rising on the horizon followed by a beautiful sunrise greeted female athletes in Marbella as the World Championship women’s race got underway.
True to form, Charles-Barclay got off to a flying start, surging to an early lead and pushing the pace hard.
She would continue to open up the gap throughout the 1.9km (1.2-mile) ROKA swim, expertly navigating the ocean swell to exit the water first in 25:05 – a commanding lead of 47 seconds to Knibb and fellow Briton Jess Learmonth in second and third.
Fourth out of the water was Brazilian Djenyfer Arnold, followed by a large group between 2:05 to 2:20 minutes down on Charles-Barclay, featuring the likes of Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain, German Caroline Pohle, Briton Kat Matthews, Australian Ellie Salthouse, Norwegian Solveig Løvseth and Canadian Paula Findlay.
Once out onto the 90km (56-mile) ZOOT bike course, Knibb wasted no time getting up to speed and had caught and passed Charles-Barclay to take the lead within the first 10km.
As the riders continued to climb, Knibb slowly began to extend away from the rest of the field. However, in a repeat of last month’s race in Kona, Charles-Barclay was determined to not let Knibb get too far out of sight, capitalising on her descending skills to bridge the gap back to Knibb to rejoin her at the front of the race.
Findlay was also one of the early quick riders, joining Learmonth around 20km as the pair took turns riding in third and fourth.
By the halfway point, Knibb and Charles-Barclay had a 2:48 lead to Learmonth, and a 3:30-3:40 lead on Findlay, Sif Bendix Madsen of Denmark, and Matthews.
Behind the leaders and chase group, Marjolaine Pierré of France was having a stellar ride, moving up from 19th out of the water to seventh after 60km, while Tanja Neubert was putting together a solid race, sitting around eighth place with a formidable run still to come.
As the riders flew down the final descent toward T2, Knibb and Charles-Barclay remained together, with Knibb hitting the ROUVY transition first after a 2:28:36 bike. The trio of Matthews, Learmonth, and Bendix Madsen were next into transition, 3:49 down on the leaders, with Findlay dropped on the descent and reaching T2 with a 5:24 deficit to the front.
Knibb flew onto the 21.1km (13.1-mile) HOKA run course, opening up a 26 second gap to Charles-Barclay within the first 2km, with the distance between the front two remaining consistent for the first 5km before Charles-Barclay began to pick up the pace and close the gap.
Charles-Barclay took the lead at the 7km mark and wouldn’t look back, slowly opening up an unassailable lead as she wound her way around the crowd-lined streets of Marbella.
Behind the leading duo Matthews came off the bike in third position, closing a 3:49 gap on the leaders down to 2:45 by the 5km mark and looking like she may run down the leaders as the run went on, however she was unfortunately forced to retire not long after, with a crippling calf issue ending her day prematurely.
Matthews’ retirement promoted Jess Learmonth into third place, with Tanja Neubert up to fourth. With Charles-Barclay and Knibb well out in front, IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship rookie Neubert chipped away at Learmonth, moving into third by 8km into the run.
After almost four and a quarter hours on the racecourse Charles-Barclay made her way onto the crowd lined finish chute on Puerto Banús Beach, taking the finish tape to become a two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion. Knibb crossed the line three minutes later, with Neubert 7:12 behind the champion.
Top five professional women’s results:
| Country | Swim | Bike | Run | Finish | |
| Lucy Charles-Barclay | GBR | 25:05 | 2:29:41 | 1:17:14 | 4:14:54 |
| Taylor Knibb | USA | 25:52 | 2:28:36 | 1:20:21 | 4:17:55 |
| Tanja Neubert | DEU | 27:16 | 2:33:51 | 1:18:16 | 4:22:07 |
| Georgia Taylor-Brown | GBR | 27:12 | 2:36:20 | 1:17:30 | 4:23:47 |
| Marjolaine Pierré | FRA | 28:35 | 2:32:36 | 1:20:05 | 4:23:55 |
Kat Matthews crowned Pro Series Winner for the second straight year
Meanwhile, Kat Matthews of Great Britain made IRONMAN history again, winning her second straight IRONMAN Pro Series, and taking home a bonus payout of USD 200,000.
Norwegian Solveig Løvseth and Lisa Perterer of Austria completed the Pro Series podium, receiving a bonus payout of $130,000 USD and $85,000 USD respectively.
Matthews held on to claim back-to-back titles despite being forced to retire during the run of the World Championship with a calf injury.
Løvseth needed to beat Matthews by at least 6 minutes and 40 seconds, and also finish within 1 minute and 40 seconds of the overall winner to claim victory. While she finished sixth overall, she crossed the line nearly 10 minutes behind race winner Charles-Barclay to secure second place.
Matthews’ 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series campaign has been nothing short of exceptional, marked by the highest levels of consistency and execution. The defending Pro Series champion returned with purpose, racing six times across the year with results no worse than second, apart from this Saturday’s injury-induced DNF in Marbella.
Her season opened with a commanding win at the Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas North American Championship, where she set the tone for the year with a dominant performance – achieving an at-the-time new best time of 8:10:34. She followed that up with victories at 70.3 Swansea and 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun triathlons, showcasing her strength across both the full and middle-distance.
Matthews also secured runner-up finishes at the Hamburg European Championship and the World Championship in Kona, where she clocked a 2:47:23 marathon to set a new run course record. Finishing just 35 seconds off the win earned Matthews 5,703 points – her highest-scoring race of the season and giving her a comfortable lead heading into the 70.3 World Championship.
Sitting on 20,845 points, Matthews led the Pro Series standings and had already surpassed her 2024 winning total of 20,761 points. Her two 70.3 victories earlier in the season meant Matthews only had a narrow margin for improvement but her retirement meant that her point score stayed where it started the day.
Her 2025 campaign has been a masterclass in consistency, continued improvement, and race-day brilliance – setting a new year-end benchmark score in the Pro Series.
2025 Pro Series runner-up, Solveig Løvseth, has also had an outstanding season. The Norwegian delivered podium performances in four of her five counted Pro Series races. The defining moment came last month at the World Championship in Kona, where she claimed her first world title on debut in brutal conditions, earning the maximum 6,000 Series points.
Lisa Perterer, who completed the Pro Series podium, already had her third place in the Pro Series standings locked in, despite not racing at the 70.3 World Championship. Lisa’s season included two second place finishes at Athletic Brewing Lake Placid and 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun triathlons, a third place at Memorial Hermann Texas North American Championship, and a fifth and a sixth at the World Championship, and 70.3 Aix-en-Provence triathlons respectively.
Main movers and shakers following the 70.3 World Championship triathlon included Regan Hollioake of Austria who moved from seventh to sixth and Danielle Lewis (USA) who went from 10th to eighth. Outside of the top 10 Katrine Græsbøll Christensen of Denmark moved up six places into 15th, Taylor Knibb jumped 15 spots into 24th and Marjolaine Pierré climbed 11 positions into 26th, all increasing their year-end bonus payout.
Top 10 Female Professional Results – Pro Series
| Place | Name | County | Pro Series Points | Bonus payout USD | Total payout* USD |
| 1st | Kat Matthews | GBR | 20,845 | $200,000 | $325,500 |
| 2nd | Solveig Løvseth | NOR | 20,351 | $130,000 | $274,500 |
| 3rd | Lisa Perterer | AUT | 17,956 | $85,000 | $134,000 |
| 4th | Jackie Hering | USA | 16,330 | $70,000 | $99,750 |
| 5th | Laura Jansen | DEU | 14,961 | $50,000 | $70,500 |
| 6th | Regan Hollioake | AUS | 14,852 | $40,000 | $53,000 |
| 7th | Anne Reischmann | DEU | 14,587 | $30,000 | $71,500 |
| 8th | Danielle Lewis | USA | 12,669 | $20,000 | $34,750 |
| 9th | Hannah Berry | NZL | 12,157 | $15,000 | $56,500 |
| 10th | Maja Stage Nielsen | DEN | 12,075 | $10,000 | $16,500 |
