Ten Years On: Lucy Charles-Barclay on Surgery, Redemption and Lanzarote

In 2016, here in Lanzarote, I asked the media crew at Club La Santa if they could set up an interview with Lucy Charles (this was pre-marriage to Reece Barclay). They couldn’t figure out why. I explained that she’d won her age group in Kona the year before, and I had a feeling she would do well in her first professional IRONMAN race. A few days later she proved me right.

During that interview that I learned that as a teenager, Charles-Barclay had come very close to making it to the Olympics. A national team swimmer, she was one of five British women who had made the Olympic standard for the 10 km open water swim … with only one spot available. In the end, the then-18-year-old didn’t make the final cut. A few years later she would find triathlon, and set the stage for her status as one of the sport’s most recognized pros.

With that swim background, it was hardly a surprise that before the race in 2016 she joked that she was going to try and beat Jan Frodeno out of the water. On race day she came close – Frodeno hit the beach in Puerto Del Carmen in 46:52, with Charles-Barclay coming out in 47:11. She would pip the German Olympic gold medalist across the mount line and on to the bike as he struggled with his helmet. Charles-Barclay would eventually finish third, and a year later she would win here in Lanzarote. A few weeks later she won the Challenge Championship in Samorin, Slovakia and, later that year, she would begin the string of runner-up Kona finishes (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022) that would eventually end in 2023 when she took the IRONMAN world championship title.

I mentioned that interview during today’s press conference, and Patrick Lange picked up on just how much Charles-Barclay has grown as an athlete over the last decade. She’s here in Lanzarote as the defending champion and also the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, but coming off surgery in January in which she had her plantaris tendon removed. She bounced back to win the Volcano Triathlon earlier this month, and is expecting to hear a lot of “slow down” from her husband and coach Reece Barclay on Saturday as she returns to full fitness and gears up for another championship season.

I caught up with Charles-Barclay after today’s press conference.

Q: I still fondly remember that 2016 interview at Club La Santa. It’s been quite a journey for you since then.

It’s been such an incredible journey, to be honest. One that, I guess if I’d written it down in a book, I never would have believed. It’s been such an amazing 10 years. And to be back on this start line after all that time, feeling like still the same athlete, but also a very different athlete as well. It’s super special.

Q: What is it about Lanzarote and Club La Santa that keeps you coming back? I’m guessing there are other resorts who would be happy for you to come and stay, but you guys seem to have quite an attachment here.

It’s where my journey began, to be honest. I first came to Club La Santa still as a swimmer — I remember doing 100 100s in the old pool before they had the two new ones, so I’ve really seen the growth of the centre. Now they have three Olympic-sized swimming pools, which is any swimmer or triathlete’s dream. I’ve travelled all around the world and never found something that is as good as Club La Santa. It feels like a second home. You have the green teamers who are so friendly, who you see every day. You’re able to ride the whole island, which is incredibly tough at times, but I think that’s the point — it sets you up so well for any triathlon season. When I first raced here, it was about doing the toughest IRONMAN and knowing I could race anywhere in the world, and I still believe that. So it always sets me up well for a great year.

Q: This year you’re coming in after surgery — who needs a plantaris tendon anyway, right? You had that removed in January. What has that recovery been like?

I remember barely running in January. I was in so much pain from the swelling of the plantaris rubbing on my Achilles tendon, and I texted my sports doctor back in the UK and he was like, “We can literally operate in two days.” I remember sitting on the green at Club La Santa debating whether I should do this. The decision was made when I thought: if I’m getting to my Kona camp here in August and it’s still annoying me, I’ll just be so annoyed that I didn’t nip it in the bud and get the surgery. So I decided to go ahead, and honestly, it was the best thing I could have done. Being back here running now and kind of pinching myself doing a 30 km long run with no pain — I couldn’t even run 10 km in January without stopping and walking, with other things in my body hurting because I was running awkwardly. It feels like it was a miracle surgery. I guess I don’t want to say that too soon — I haven’t finished the Ironman yet — but if I can finish the race here healthy, validate for Kona, then it feels like I’ve put to bed the surgery, I’m over it. And we can move on to hopefully a solid championship season.

Q: I was joking about you sneaking onto the Hamburg entry list when Dan (Lorang) and Reece weren’t looking. I’m guessing that wasn’t quite the case — they’re in on it?

Yeah, of course. I sit down with Dan and Reece and talk to them a lot. When I made the decision to have the surgery, Reece was on the call, Dan was on the call, my sports doctor, the surgeon — we were all talking through the pros and cons and what the timeline was likely to be. I was like, “We’re going to hopefully have a shorter timeline than that.” My recovery generally is very good with anything like that, so I’m super grateful it went well. We said IRONMAN Lanzarote would be the ideal race. I know it so well — I haven’t got to go and prepare and look at the course, I obviously know every detail of it. It’s not an easy IRONMAN. The field is always unknown; people might come out of the woodwork and do a solid performance. For me it’s about doing a measured effort, hopefully still doing a solid one, but I know Reece will be out there telling me to slow down if I’m going too quickly. I’m just really looking forward to it. I love the atmosphere of this race and, hopefully, I can do it with a smile on my face for most of the day.

Q: You’re not very good at not racing hard. So there’s no way this is just a training day leading up to Hamburg, right?

Obviously IRONMAN Hamburg is a bit of a backup race for me. If I don’t finish here, I will go and race there just to validate for Kona. As soon as I cross the finish line here, hopefully I will email IRONMAN — they’re already aware of the situation. So it’s more of a backup, as opposed to a double. I don’t think I would do both … I feel like if I finish here and told Reece that I feel great, he’d just tell me that we’re going to go home and lie down — you’re not doing another Ironman in two weeks. So yeah, you probably won’t see me there unless this goes horribly wrong, which hopefully it doesn’t.

Q: Last year was quite a roller coaster — physically and emotionally. I talked to you on the high of 70.3 Marbella, coming back after having to pull out of Kona. What do you take out of last year?

On the whole, 2025 was an incredible year. I’d had such a terrible year in 2024, so aside from Kona, 2025 was fantastic. It’s just a shame that on the biggest stage it didn’t come together. But I was so grateful that only four weeks after, I would have another shot at a world title. I never expected to bounce back as well as I did, but I think it’s a testament to my team and myself that we’re always willing to put in the work. I didn’t want to end the season after Kona on that note — I knew I wanted to end it in a much more positive way. And it couldn’t have been more positive than going to Marbella and getting the win. Running up that finish line, it probably tops anything I’ve ever felt in the sport, because it was just that redemption of things going wrong and then making them right again.

Q: We talked about this in Marbella — it’s a team effort, right? In 2016 there was you and Reece, but he was still trying to figure out how he could race and help support you. How has that part of the your triathlon growth developed?

Nowadays the professional racing is at such a high level that it’s really hard to do it without a team around you. I’m obviously super lucky to have my husband Reece, who’s been there from the very beginning. But now I have my sister doing the social media, I have a PA at home called Louise, I have my manager Evan, I have my medical team at Fortius Clinic in the UK who will get me in for surgery within a day of making a phone call. I obviously have all of my incredible sponsors who are behind me as well, and it just wouldn’t be possible to race at this level without them. I am so incredibly grateful.

Q: Hey, good luck on Saturday.

Thank you very much.

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