Here’s how two of the favourites for the Ironman World Championship Nice “won” tune up races on the course today
Both will be looking for a second Ironman World Championship title ... but had very different approaches to testing themselves
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
We were expecting defending Ironman World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay to dominate Ironman Nice today, but she wasn’t the only one taking advantage of today’s racing to check out the course for this September’s world championship on the Côte d’Azur. 2019 Kona champ Anne Haug was also in Nice, but racing the 70.3 event as a way to check out some of the steep climbs and challenging descents she’ll face in October. (There was no pro race for the 70.3 event in Nice, so Ironman had to give Haug permission to race with the age group field.)
With Lucy Charles-Barclay expected to dominate Ironman France, we’re back to the old days of racing
Charles-Barclay had surprised the triathlon world with her announcement that she would be competing in Nice this weekend. Earlier this year she had announced at the T100 World Triathlon Tour press conference that she wouldn’t be returning to defend her Ironman title in Nice. She changed her mind, though, and used today’s race as a chance to check out the course.
Lucy Charles-Barclay won’t be in Nice to defend her Ironman world championship
New course record
Considering many triathlon pundits felt the Nice course wasn’t suited for Charles-Barclay, she would break two course records – overall and the run course record. She missed Edith Niederfriniger’s swim course record (from 2006) and also was behind Corinne Abraham’s bike course from 2018. She did break Caitlin Snow’s 2:52:26 marathon split with a sub-250 performance, while also eclipsing Abraham’s overall course record with her 9:03:22. (The previous record was 9:11:59.) Charles-Barclay would also finish over 16 minutes ahead of Czechia’s Barbora Besperat (9:20:01) with Germany’s Merle Brunnee rounding out the podium.
Haug has day’s third-fastest 70.3 run split
After winning Ironman Lanzarote in record-setting style, Anne Haug hadn’t planned on racing in Nice, but after pulling out of T100 Miami, last year’s Kona runner-up (to Chalres-Barclay), got permission from Ironman to compete in the age-group-only 70.3 race in Nice.
Haug’s 4:38:44 overall time was the 11th fastest time of the day. Her 27:07 swim was the fifth-fastest overall, her 2:50:01 bike split was 53rd overall, while the run ended up being 1:13:48 overall, the third-fastest time for the run course today. (Needless to say, Haug was the day’s fastest woman.)
Both Charles-Barclay and Haug will be in Nice in September after breaking course records in their lead up. Presumably we’ll see them compete at T100 London before setting their sites on another world championship.