{"id":5746,"date":"2025-11-09T07:36:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=5746"},"modified":"2025-11-09T07:36:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:36:31","slug":"second-ironman-world-title-for-lucy-charles-barclay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/second-ironman-world-title-for-lucy-charles-barclay\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Ironman world title for Lucy Charles-Barclay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Briton Lucy Charles-Barclay\u00a0cemented\u00a0her name in the history books\u00a0at the\u00a02025\u00a0IRONMAN\u00a070.3\u00a0World Championship with a\u00a0finish\u00a0time of\u00a04:14:54\u00a0on the streets of Marbella,\u00a0and the region of Andalucia,\u00a0claiming\u00a0her second world title.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\u00a0bowing out\u00a0late into the run\u00a0of\u00a0last\u00a0month’s World Championship\u00a0in Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i,\u00a0the British athlete made a remarkable comeback\u00a0storming to victory ahead of America’s Taylor Knibb, who also\u00a0sought redemption after\u00a0retiring\u00a0from\u00a0a late\u00a0lead in Hawai’i.\u00a0Germany’s Tanja Neubert\u00a0completed the day’s podium\u00a0with a\u00a0third\u00a0place\u00a0finish\u00a0on her\u00a0World Championship debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The day started\u00a0pretty well,\u00a0right out of the swim I had a look back and saw that I had a decent gap.\u00a0Out on the bike I had company with Taylor,\u00a0obviously,\u00a0I know how\u00a0phenomenal\u00a0she is on the bike,\u00a0I knew if I could stay with her,\u00a0it\u00a0could be\u00a0my ticket to the win today,” said Charles-Barclay after the win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I felt super strong on that\u00a0run, and I just\u00a0couldn’t\u00a0be\u00a0more happy\u00a0with\u00a0how the day panned out.\u00a0It’s\u00a0been a\u00a0really tough\u00a0time\u00a0and\u00a0we’ve\u00a0had some\u00a0really\u00a0tough\u00a0family things going on.\u00a0I\u00a0had\u00a0some angel wings out there today\u00a0and\u00a0I think they\u00a0helped me fly around the course.\u00a0I’m\u00a0really grateful\u00a0that I could do that for them and all the\u00a0team that have\u00a0gotten me here.\u00a0It\u00a0hasn’t\u00a0been easy,\u00a0but we made it,\u00a0and\u00a0it\u00a0has\u00a0definitely\u00a0made\u00a0up for the disappointment of Kona,\u00a0for sure.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u00a0bright\u00a0view of the planet Venus rising on the horizon\u00a0followed by a beautiful sunrise\u00a0greeted\u00a0female\u00a0athletes\u00a0in\u00a0Marbella as the World Championship\u00a0women’s race\u00a0got underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to form,\u00a0Charles-Barclay got off to a flying start, surging to an early\u00a0lead and pushing the pace hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would continue to\u00a0open up\u00a0the\u00a0gap\u00a0throughout the 1.9km\u00a0(1.2-mile)\u00a0ROKA swim, expertly navigating the ocean swell to exit the water\u00a0first in 25:05 \u2013 a commanding lead of 47 seconds to Knibb and fellow Briton Jess Learmonth in second and third.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth out of the water was\u00a0Brazilian Djenyfer\u00a0Arnold, followed by\u00a0a\u00a0large\u00a0group\u00a0between 2:05 to 2:20 minutes down on\u00a0Charles-Barclay, featuring the likes of Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain, German Caroline Pohle, Briton Kat Matthews, Australian Ellie Salthouse, Norwegian Solveig\u00a0L\u00f8vseth\u00a0and Canadian Paula Findlay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once out onto\u00a0the\u00a090km\u00a0(56-mile)\u00a0ZOOT bike course,\u00a0Knibb\u00a0wasted\u00a0no time\u00a0getting up to speed and\u00a0had\u00a0caught and passed Charles-Barclay to take the lead within the first 10km.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the riders\u00a0continued\u00a0to climb, Knibb\u00a0slowly began to extend away from the rest of the field.\u00a0However, in a repeat of last month’s race in Kona, Charles-Barclay was determined to not let Knibb get\u00a0too far out of sight,\u00a0capitalising on\u00a0her descending skills to bridge the gap back to\u00a0Knibb\u00a0to\u00a0rejoin her at the front of the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Findlay was also one of the early\u00a0quick\u00a0riders, joining Learmonth\u00a0around\u00a020km as the pair took turns riding in third and fourth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the halfway point,\u00a0Knibb and Charles-Barclay\u00a0had\u00a0a\u00a02:48 lead to Learmonth, and a 3:30-3:40 lead on\u00a0Findlay,\u00a0Sif Bendix Madsen of Denmark,\u00a0and Matthews.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the leaders and chase group, Marjolaine\u00a0Pierr\u00e9\u00a0of France was having a stellar ride,\u00a0moving up from\u00a019th\u00a0out of the water\u00a0to seventh after 60km, while Tanja Neubert was\u00a0putting together a solid race, sitting around eighth place with\u00a0a\u00a0formidable run\u00a0still to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the riders flew down the final descent\u00a0toward T2,\u00a0Knibb and Charles-Barclay remained together, with Knibb hitting the ROUVY transition first after a\u00a02:28:36 bike.\u00a0The trio of Matthews, Learmonth, and Bendix Madsen\u00a0were next into transition,\u00a03:49 down on the leaders, with Findlay dropped\u00a0on the descent and reaching T2\u00a0with a 5:24 deficit to the front.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knibb flew onto the\u00a021.1km (13.1-mile)\u00a0HOKA run course, opening up a 26 second gap to Charles-Barclay within the first 2km, with\u00a0the distance between the front two remaining consistent for the first 5km before Charles-Barclay began\u00a0to pick up the\u00a0pace and close the gap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles-Barclay took the lead at the 7km mark and\u00a0wouldn’t\u00a0look back, slowly\u00a0opening up\u00a0an\u00a0unassailable\u00a0lead as she wound her way\u00a0around the crowd-lined streets of Marbella.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind the leading duo Matthews\u00a0came off the bike in third\u00a0position,\u00a0closing a 3:49 gap on the leaders down to 2:45 by the 5km mark\u00a0and looking like she may run down the leaders as the run went on, however\u00a0she\u00a0was\u00a0unfortunately\u00a0forced to retire not long after, with a crippling calf issue ending her day prematurely.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthews’ retirement promoted Jess Learmonth into third place, with Tanja Neubert\u00a0up 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After almost four and a quarter hours on the racecourse Charles-Barclay made her way onto the crowd lined finish chute on Puerto Ban\u00fas 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top five professional women’s results:\u202f <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u202f <\/td>Country<\/td>Swim\u202f <\/td>Bike\u202f <\/td>Run\u202f <\/td>Finish\u202f <\/td><\/tr>
Lucy Charles-Barclay<\/td>GBR<\/td>25:05<\/td>2:29:41<\/td>1:17:14<\/td>4:14:54<\/td><\/tr>
Taylor Knibb<\/td>USA<\/td>25:52<\/td>2:28:36<\/td>1:20:21<\/td>4:17:55<\/td><\/tr>
Tanja Neubert<\/td>DEU<\/td>27:16<\/td>2:33:51<\/td>1:18:16<\/td>4:22:07<\/td><\/tr>
Georgia Taylor-Brown <\/td>GBR<\/td>27:12<\/td>2:36:20<\/td>1:17:30<\/td>4:23:47<\/td><\/tr>
Marjolaine Pierr\u00e9 <\/td>FRA<\/td>28:35<\/td>2:32:36<\/td>1:20:05<\/td>4:23:55<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kat Matthews of Great Britain wins the Pro Series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kat Matthews\u00a0crowned Pro Series Winner\u00a0for the second straight year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Kat Matthews of Great Britain made IRONMAN history again,\u00a0winning her second straight IRONMAN Pro Series,\u00a0and taking home a bonus payout of USD 200,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwegian Solveig\u00a0L\u00f8vseth\u00a0and\u00a0Lisa\u00a0Perterer\u00a0of Austria completed\u00a0the\u00a0Pro Series podium, receiving a bonus payout of $130,000\u00a0USD and\u00a0$85,000\u00a0USD\u00a0respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthews\u00a0held on to\u00a0claim back-to-back titles despite being forced to retire\u00a0during the run\u00a0of the World Championship\u00a0with a calf injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u00f8vseth needed to beat Matthews by at least 6 minutes and 40\u00a0seconds, and\u00a0also\u00a0finish\u00a0within 1 minute and 40 seconds of the overall winner to claim victory.\u00a0While she finished sixth overall, she crossed the line\u00a0nearly 10\u00a0minutes behind\u00a0race\u00a0winner\u00a0Charles-Barclay\u00a0to\u00a0secure\u00a0second place.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013\u00a0achieving\u00a0an 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\u00a0triathlons, showcasing her strength across both the full and middle-distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013 her highest-scoring race of the season\u00a0and giving her a comfortable lead heading into the 70.3 World Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0improvement\u00a0but her retirement meant that her point score stayed where it started the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her 2025 campaign has been a masterclass in consistency, continued improvement, and race-day brilliance \u2013 setting a new year-end benchmark score in the Pro Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 Pro Series runner-up, Solveig L\u00f8vseth, has also had an outstanding\u00a0season. The\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0delivered podium performances in\u00a0four of her five counted\u00a0Pro 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa\u00a0Perterer, who completed the Pro Series podium,\u00a0already 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\u00a0triathlons\u00a0respectively.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main movers and shakers following the 70.3 World Championship triathlon included Regan\u00a0Hollioake\u00a0of Austria who moved from seventh to sixth\u00a0and\u00a0Danielle Lewis (USA) who went from 10th\u00a0to eighth. Outside of the top\u00a010\u00a0Katrine Gr\u00e6sb\u00f8ll Christensen\u00a0of Denmark moved up six places into 15th, Taylor Knibb jumped 15 spots into 24th\u00a0and Marjolaine\u00a0Pierr\u00e9\u00a0climbed 11 positions into 26th, all increasing their\u00a0year-end\u00a0bonus payout.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 10\u202fFemale Professional Results \u2013 Pro Series\u202f\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Place\u202f<\/td>Name\u202f<\/td>County\u202f\u202f<\/td>Pro Series Points\u202f<\/td>Bonus payout\u202fUSD\u202f<\/td>Total payout*\u202fUSD\u202f<\/td><\/tr>
1st<\/td>Kat Matthews<\/td>GBR<\/td>20,845<\/td>$200,000 <\/td>$325,500<\/td><\/tr>
2nd<\/td>Solveig L\u00f8vseth<\/td>NOR<\/td>20,351<\/td>$130,000<\/td>$274,500<\/td><\/tr>
3rd<\/td>Lisa Perterer <\/td>AUT<\/td>17,956<\/td>$85,000<\/td>$134,000<\/td><\/tr>
4th<\/td>Jackie Hering<\/td>USA<\/td>16,330<\/td>$70,000<\/td>$99,750<\/td><\/tr>
5th<\/td>Laura Jansen<\/td>DEU<\/td>14,961<\/td>$50,000<\/td>$70,500<\/td><\/tr>
6th<\/td>Regan Hollioake <\/td>AUS<\/td>14,852<\/td>$40,000<\/td>$53,000<\/td><\/tr>
7th<\/td>Anne Reischmann <\/td>DEU<\/td>14,587<\/td>$30,000<\/td>$71,500<\/td><\/tr>
8th<\/td>Danielle Lewis<\/td>USA<\/td>12,669<\/td>$20,000<\/td>$34,750<\/td><\/tr>
9th<\/td>Hannah Berry<\/td>NZL<\/td>12,157<\/td>$15,000<\/td>$56,500<\/td><\/tr>
10th<\/td>Maja Stage Nielsen<\/td>DEN<\/td>12,075<\/td>$10,000<\/td>$16,500<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Briton Lucy Charles-Barclay\u00a0cemented\u00a0her name in the history books\u00a0at the\u00a02025\u00a0IRONMAN\u00a070.3\u00a0World Championship with a\u00a0finish\u00a0time of\u00a04:14:54\u00a0on the streets of Marbella,\u00a0and the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[35,36],"class_list":["post-5746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-ironman","tag-triathlon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory.jpg",1200,800,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Great-Britains-Lucy-Charles-Barclay-claims-victory.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5746"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5751,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions\/5751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}