Lucy Charles-Barclay Leads Out of the Water in Kona

Surprise, surprise — Lucy Charles-Barclay was first to transition on Saturday. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The pro women kicked off the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona this morning, and to nobody’s surprise, 2023 world champ Lucy Charles-Barclay led out of the water. She finished the swim in 49:26, a full minute and a half over the next-closest athletes.

American Haley Chura led a long string of chasing women to the swim exit as they tried to regain any kind of contact with the flying and long-gone Charles-Barclay. Chura’s swim split came in at 50:59, and she was followed by 2016 70.3 world champ Holly Lawrence (who is making her Kona debut) of Great Britain. Taylor Knibb was also in the chase group, sitting 1:36 behind Charles-Barclay as she climbed out of the water.

A total of seven women found themselves in that first group, although it was a tad spread out heading into T1, with 12 seconds separating second place and eighth. The next few women to climb out of the water were more separated, with Stephanie Clutterbuck, yet another Brit, leading the way in 51:36. France’s Julie Iemmolo found herself a few seconds behind Clutterbuck, followed by Britain’s India Lee, New Zealand’s Hannah Berry and Australian Regan Hollioake, who was 2:41 behind Charles-Barclay.

The next athletes were much further back of the lead, all coming out at least five minutes after Charles-Barclay made her way into transition. Norwegian standout Solveig Løvseth (2025 IRONMAN Lake Placid champion) was 6:17 back after the swim. Kat Matthews (second place in Nice last year) was a couple of seconds behind Løvseth, and 2024 IRONMAN world champion Laura Philipp was 6:27 behind the lead pace.

2024 IRONMAN world champion Laura Philipp sat 6:27 behind the lead after the swim. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

There is still a long, long way to go for all of the women, but some have more work to do than others. After 13 miles of riding, Charles-Barclay was still in the lead, with Knibb still a minute and a half back after moving into second in the early stages of the bike. Spain’s Marta Sanchez was in third at that point, three minutes behind.

Slowtwitch is on site and will be posting updates all day long, so be sure to follow along to stay in the know about all the action in Kona.

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