India Lee tops Lucy Charles-Barclay under the lights at T100 Miami

Great Britain’s India Lee enjoyed the race of her life to take the inaugural T100 Triathlon World Tour event in Miami, passing long-time leader Lucy Charles-Barclay just over halfway through the run and never looking back. Lee would lead a British sweep of the podium as former 70.3 world champ Holly Lawrence took third.

Lee has long been renowned as one of the sport’s top cyclists, but hasn’t traditionally put together strong run splits, which has prevented her from taking more titles in the past. That all changed in Miami as Lee overcame both the strong field and the heat to take the win.

“Throughout my triathlon career I’ve been frustrated how my run has turned out because it’s been a bit average to be honest,” Lee said after the race. “But I know I had it in me to be able to run well. On one-off runs I can run well. So, in my head it was just a matter of time to put it together. Today was the first time that I’ve had a run that I’m actually proud of.”

Charles-Barclay “pretty happy”

The reigning Ironman world champion led out of the water, with countrywoman Lucy Buckingham on her feet and close behind for the early stages of the bike. Buckingham, who had been dealing with food poisoning earlier in the week, would be forced to drop out in the hot and humid conditions. Charles-Barclay continued to power ahead, but was joined towards the end of the ride by Lee. The two would hit T2 with a lead of almost two minutes.

Lee would take the lead at the 11.5 km point of the run and never look back, surging clear to take the biggest win of her career. Charles-Barclay would take second, with Lawrence having a solid day to round out the podium. Canadian Paula Findlay would finish fourth, with Switzerland’s Daniela Ryf crossing in fifth.

“I’ve not had a massive block of training leading into this after Hawaii,” Charles-Barclay said after the race. “So I’m pretty chuffed with that and I can definitely build on it. I wanted to get through it in one piece and I’ve done that. I had a great battle out there…and Indi, what a performance. I’m super happy for her and it was an amazing day for the Brits as well. We have got some really badass women in the UK and the Brits will always put up a battle. It’s amazing to see what we can do and in this series you’re hopefully going to see the Brits dominating.”

Like the men, a lot of the field would drop out due to the hot and humid conditions, including Buckingham, Kat Matthews, Tamara Jewett, Emma Pallant-Browne and Sara Perez Sala.

Full results can be found here.

Stay tuned for more coverage from this weekend’s racing in Miami.