IRONMAN World Championship at Kona 2025: Lucy Charles-Barclay predicts new course record
Lucy Charles-Barclay says she will need to go even faster than her 2023 Kona masterclass if she is to reclaim the IRONMAN World Championship this year.
Two years ago, the British star produced one of triathlonâs all-time great performances, leading from the front to set a stunning course record of 8:24:31 on the Big Island.
Her wire-to-wire victory that day was all the more memorable as she had been runner-up on her previous four visits to Hawaii.
Pressure off â why LCB feels freer in Kona this year
But with the womenâs field stronger than ever, Red Bull athlete Charles-Barclay believes the bar has been raised again.
âI think we will see a faster time win this time,â she said in an exclusive interview with TRI247. âIf I want to win, I need to go quicker than I went before â and I feel confident I can do that. Of course, Kona is so condition-dependent, but Iâm ready.â
Lucy Charles-Barclay celebrates her 2023 Kona win [Photo credit: Getty Images for IRONMAN]
It was a career-defining win in 2023 but she was unable to defend her crown last year in Nice, making the tough call on the eve of the race to swerve the event because of a calf strain.
That means the return to Kona feels even more like a âtitle defenceâ â but she also insists the pressure has eased since finally tasting victory in Hawaii.
âThereâs nothing like winning in Kona for the first time â and it took me a long time to do it,â she explained. âNow the pressureâs kind of off me. Other women probably have more pressure on them than me.â
Consistency leads to running improvement
And while that untimely injury last year was a hammer blow at the time, it has led to a super-smooth 2025 season.
The 31-year-old comes into the race on the back of a big training block in Lanzarote, plus statement victories at T100 London in July and T100 Spain in August.
And she highlights consistency as the key to her improvement this year â particularly in her running.
âThis is the first year in my entire career where I havenât had a week without running,â she told us. âEvery year before this one there would be weeks on my TrainingPeaks with zero kilometres of running â but not this time.
âItâs just nice to be able to run without any issues as Iâm sure many people know when theyâre coming back from an injury â even if youâre running slow but you havenât got any pain, itâs the most amazing feeling.
âSo then once you get fit again and youâre running fast without any pain, itâs an even better feeling.
âIâve just been super consistent and thatâs paying off â even setting 5K PBs.â
Lucy on her main rivals
With her main rivals including last yearâs Nice one-two Laura Philipp and Kat Matthews as well as Taylor Knibb, Charles-Barclay knows the challenge will be fierce. But with fitness, belief and experience all aligned, she appears more ready than ever.
Lucy Charles-Barclay underlined her form by winning Spain T100 2025 [Photo credit: PTO]
She added: âThereâs so many strong women now. Weâve got people that are complete rookies who are lining up. Weâve obviously also got Laura Phillip, weâve got Kat Matthews, weâve got Taylor Knibb. So, yeah, itâs all to play for. Itâs really exciting.
âBut I just want to focus on myself. And thatâs kind of what Iâve done all year, to be honest. I just focused on myself, on my own training and what I need to do, and then itâs about trying to just execute the best race possible on race day.
âSo far, thatâs gone pretty well and I think in Kona, that will be the exact same thing. Iâll have my race plan, my race strategy, and obviously you always have to be adaptable because you donât know what anyone else is going to do.â
Check out part two of our interview on Wednesday â Lucy on how that heart-breaking Nice decision a year ago has paid off in 2025.
To find out more about Lucy Charles-Barclay, you can visit her Red Bull athlete page here
