“I was in complete agony”: The resilience that made Lucy Charles-Barclay Ironman World Champion
In 2023, Lucy Charles-Barclay became Ironman World Champion in style, setting a course record in Kona to secure gold. Yet it was a victory that tested Charles-Barclay’s resilience in more ways than one.
Not only did she make it through the 2.4-mile swim, 114-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run in record time, she did so having come second in the four preceding races and in unimaginable pain.
“I started the marathon and about a mile in I was feeling extreme pain in my calf. You’re doubting if you’re even going to finish, let alone come second,” she told the Sports Gazette.
“It was so tough because I knew in my mind I wouldn’t give up, but my body might completely give up and it’d be over.”
“That’s the hardest one, I want to do that one.”
Charles-Barclay, however, had always thrived on pushing herself to extremes. Having started swimming at eight years old she quickly sought out the limits of the sport.
“I always wanted the next challenge in swimming. So, I was like, ‘What’s the hardest event that I can do?’ she recalls. “So, at nine, I did the 200m butterfly.”
Such an attitude soon led her to compete in endurance events before starting open water swimming at 16. Her talent saw her push for qualification for the London 2012 Olympics, but she was to narrowly miss out on making the cut in both the pool and open water.
“I thought, ‘Can I realistically do another four years trying to make the Olympics?’” says Charles-Barclay. “I did really try for a year, but the buzz wasn’t there anymore. I wasn’t loving it and to do sport, you have to love it.
“It was really hard. There was a real mix of emotions. I think one of them was not fulfilling that childhood dream that I’d always had. It made me sad for the child that had dreamt of it.”
For a time, the setback caused Charles-Barclay to give up sport altogether. She went to work at a zoo in their marketing department with thoughts of a career in sport behind her.
But that resilience, so marked in her Ironman performance this year, soon saw her take up a new challenge.
“I missed that drive and dedication of working towards a big goal,” says Charles-Barclay. “So, my husband and I decided to sign up for an Ironman. It was the scariest, biggest challenge we could think of to get back into training and work towards a goal.”
“I always want to be competitive.”
Ironman was never meant to be a career for Charles-Barclay. But that drive, evident from childhood, clearly had other ideas.
“Half of me hoped that I wouldn’t be that good at it so I could just enjoy doing it in a low-pressure way,” she explains.
“As it escalated, I realised I can’t do sport like that. It’s just not who I am. I always want to be competitive.”
She set out with the aim of just reaching the finish line of that very first Ironman but ended up not only completing it but doing so in a competitive time.
“I’d done swimming at a very high level, but I’d never had the same buzz as finishing an Ironman. I was like, ‘I need to feel this again,’” says Charles-Barclay.
In 2017, she entered her first Ironman World Championship, finishing in second place. Proudly donning the silver medal, it was a colour she would become well-acquainted with over the next five years.
Charles-Barclay was to finish runner-up in the subsequent three editions of the race in 2018, 2019 and 2022 (her attempts were limited by cancelled races owing to the Covid-19 pandemic).
“The first time I was elated because it was such a surprise,” she says. “The second year, I was more frustrated. I did the second fastest time in history, but I was still 10 minutes off the win. I was like, ‘What is it going to take?’
“Every single time it didn’t come off, it became harder to do it.”
“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to win everything.”
The road to the 2023 World Championship would not be without its own obstacles. Having suffered a stress fracture in her left hip at the start of the 2022 season, injury would once more be a feature of her season in 2023.
Charles-Barclay broke her foot in the Kraichgau Ironman 70.3 in May, but still went on to finish the race in second. This time recovery would be a tougher test as pain lingered despite x-rays showing the break had fully healed.
“It’s really difficult to trust your body when it’s giving you a pain sensation because you wonder if you’re doing damage,” explains Charles-Barclay.
While overcoming the mental challenges that accompany the complexity of pain, Charles-Barclay also had to contend with the pressure she had put on herself to make that fifth attempt at gold a success.
“You try and tell yourself that you don’t care but you care so much,” she says. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to win everything I’ve ever tried. You can’t mask that. You can’t get rid of that.”
“I was in complete agony.”
On the 14th October, race day came around in Hawaii at the 2023 Ironman World Championships.
Charles-Barclay boasted a 10-to-12-minute lead over her nearest rival heading into the marathon. That was when she felt the pain in her calf.
“I was just like, ‘Am I even going to be able to do this? How’s my body going to hang on?’ I was spiralling in my mind,” she recalls.
“I kept saying to myself it’s going to be way more painful afterwards if you don’t win. I still don’t know how I did it because I was in complete agony.”
With that same resilience that had carried her through setbacks, disappointments and injuries, Charles-Barclay dug in to finish the race in first place.
Yet she was not just hanging on, but smashing records, as she crossed the line in 8:24:31.
“It was disbelief to even have won and got the tape. But then when I looked up and saw the time, I was like, ‘I just can’t believe I’ve done this,’” she smiles.
“The only thing on my mind now is how much quicker could I have run if I wasn’t dealing with that? That will keep me going and keep me motivated to know there’s still a bit more in the tank.”
As usual, Charles-Barclay is once more looking ahead to her next challenge. For now, though, she will allow herself time to celebrate her win before getting ready for the season to start again this year.
