Lucy Charles-Barclay changes course and looks to defend Ironman World Championship title in Nice

After declaring earlier this year that she was “all in” for the T100 Triathlon World Tour, Great Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay has changed her plans and is now looking to compete at the Ironman World Championship in Nice in September. In order to validate her spot for the worlds, Charles-Barclay will race at Ironman France Nice on June 16.

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“I have decided to race Ironman France, which is in a couple of weeks, so I thought I’d come and suss the course before…I’ve been very warmly welcomed to the area,” Charles-Barclay told Matt Lieto on the Ironman Insider podcast. “There’s no better way of recceing the World Championship than doing the whole course pretty much in a race simulation, so to be able to come here, do Ironman France and be able to validate for both the Ironman World Championship, and the 70.3 World Championship in one race, it seemed like an absolute no-brainer.”

Charles-Barclay attributes the change in plan to a quick recovery from the calf tear she sustained while winning Kona last year.

“I wasn’t sure how well my body would come back to racing after that level of injury so I had to be very cautious, and then I guess my season has got off to a really good start, and that has given me the scope to able to go and race a full Ironman and see how the body goes over that distance, and I guess just remembering that’s what got me into the sport,” she said. “Now I feel like I am in a position that I can come back and defend that title.”

Charles-Barclay isn’t sure if she’ll add the 70.3 worlds in New Zealand to her schedule as of yet.

“It’s actually on my wedding anniversary, so I’ll have to check with Reece,” she said. “But we’ll just see how the season goes. I’ve never been to New Zealand either so it’s somewhere that I would love to go and visit and race.”