Lucy Charles-Barclay

Charles was born north of London, England. When Charles was 8 years old, she started swimming. A year later she was beating other swimmers that were three or four years older than her. She convinced her coaches to let her compete in events such as the 200-metre butterfly. By the age of 16 she was a national champion. In 2010, there was a test event in which Charles competed, she finished 16th, the top competitor from Great Britain. She was 17 at the time and it was her first ever 10K swim. The Olympic Games 2012 were hosted in London, and the 10K open-water swim, which is seen as the marathon in swimming, was part of it for the second time. For the 2012 Olympics, Charles's biggest competitor was Keri-Anne Payne, who had already won an Olympic silver medal at the open water debut in 2008. Although Charles was doing really well on the build up towards the Olympics it wasn’t enough to be selected. Britain had only one slot, which went to Payne. Charles who was still a teenager at the time was so devastated, that at some point in 2013 she lost the motivation to only keep swimming for the next Olympic opportunity in 2016. == Triathlon career ==

In May 2017, Charles won Ironman Lanzarote. Furthermore she also won the Challenge Family's The Championship. She also won a second place at the Ironman European Championships. She won the swim in that race in 48:29 minutes and finished the race only 4 minutes behind winner Sarah Crowley. At the Ironman World Championship in October 2017, she again landed a second place behind four time World Champion Daniela Ryf. In April 2018, at Ironman South Africa, Charles won her second Ironman race. In the same year she again won Challenge's The Championship. In September, she came second at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. At the 2018 Ironman World Championship in October she again landed in second place behind Daniela Ryf and broke the swim record with 48:13 minutes. Her overall time of 8:36:24 is the second fastest in race history. In 2019, Charles won Challenge Roth and the European Ironman Championships with her personal record of 8:31:09 hours for the entire race. She followed that with a third consecutive second place finish at the 2019 Ironman World Championship, clocking 8:46:44. In 2021, she won the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, finishing over 8 minutes faster than her nearest competitor. In 2023, she became the Ironman World Champion in Kailua-Kona after four times coming second. In 2024, she received two second place finishes at the PTO T100 Triathlon, one to India Lee in Miami and another one to Ashleigh Gentle in Singapore. She announced that she planned to validate her slot for the 2024 Ironman World Championships held in Nice, France. She succeeded in validating her slot with a win in Ironman France. In the London leg of the T100 tour, she injured herself on the run and was forced to withdraw, her first ever professional DNF. Charles-Barclay began her 2025 season with a 3rd place finish at the Singapore T100 Triathlon. Only Kate Waugh and Lisa Perterer ahead of her. She followed this with wins at Ironman Lanzarote and Ironman 70.3 Eagleman. In august she won the T100 London and the T100 Spain in september. She finished the season with a win at the 2025 Ironman 70.3 World Championships. She is one of the strongest swimmers in triathlon. Charles lives in Chingford, Essex, and is coached by her husband Reece. ==Notable results==

In 2024, Charles-Barclay was diagnosed with coeliac disease, which had caused her to suffer stress fractures, low energy and joint pain. ==References==