None of what happened behind Lucy Charles-Barclay today really mattered: there was only one woman to watch during Ironman Lanzarote and that was the top British athlete herself. That should come as no surprise, as Charles-Barclay led from start to finish and won by a huge margin.
Charles-Barclay finished her swim in 48:24 minutes, which already gave her a lead of nearly seven minutes over her first pursuer – France’s Justine Guerard at that point. What followed was a leaden bike leg in which Charles-Barclay would not see anyone for 180 kilometers. Something she did see, however, was that her lead continued to grow steadily and by T2 had risen to already nearly 16 minutes on Jeanne Collonge, who was second at the time.
So despite the fact that Charles-Barclay was not seriously being chased anywhere and could actually freewheel to the finish, she did not take it easy. During the marathon, the British athlete managed to increase her lead once again before finishing in a total time of 9:17:15. For Charles-Barclay, the victory is undoubtedly special, as it was in Lanzarote that she made her debut as a pro athlete years ago (2016) and also won her first race as a pro a year later (2017).
Behind Charles-Barclay, Collonge finished second in 9:37:36. Germany’s Merle Brunnée finished third in 9:38:16.
