This year saw the IRONMAN World Championships return to Kona and Lucy Charles-Barclay take a place on the podium, with Joe Skipper, Fenella Langridge and Laura Siddall also securing top-ten spots.
With American Chelsea Sodaro taking the win, there were seven British athletes racing in the women’s pro race. Charles-Barclay finished second, Langridge sixth and Siddall tenth. Susie Cheetham crossed the line in 11th, Ruth Astle 14th and Chantel Sainter 29th, with Simone Mitchell recording a DNF.
This was the first time that the championships have taken place on the island since 2019 and is also the first year that the men’s and women’s races will take place on separate days. The women’s race took place yesterday, Thursday 6 October, and the men’s race on Saturday 8 October.
Charles-Barclay, already the 2022 World Triathlon Long Distance champion, quickly established herself at the front of the swim and built a lead as no one could keep pace with her in the water.
By the time she’d completed the 2.4 mile swim, Charles-Barclay had built a 40 second gap ahead of the first set of chasers, a group which included Langridge.
Out on the 112 mile bike leg, Langridge was able to bridge the gap to her compatriot and the pair swapped the lead for the majority of the middle stage of the race. Behind them however, defending champion Daniella Ryf (SUI) was making good headway into the seven minute deficit she had out of the swim.
With only a matter of miles remaining to T2, the Swiss athlete passed both of the Brits to take the lead, recording the fastest bike split of the day at 04:36:11. Charles-Barclay was less than 20 seconds behind as they swapped bike for run with Langridge still in touching distance in third.
With a number of five minute drafting penalties and some strong riders, there were athletes moving through T2 at a consistent rate at the front of the race, setting up a grandstand finish over the marathon run.
Charles-Barclay made up time on Ryf through transition and it wasn’t long before she re-established herself at the front of the race.
Despite the temperature hotting up, Sodaro was making light work of the run and she too passed Ryf in the opening stages of the final discipline and had the Brit in her sights. The Kona debutant swept past Charles-Barclay and was able to build her lead steadily across the first half of the 26.2 miles.
As the American set off towards the finish line, Charles-Barclay was beginning to come under threat from the fast-moving Anne Haug of Germany. Despite the German putting the pressure on, Charles-Barclay was able to secure second place and match her best result there.
She finished in 08:41:37, just under eight minutes back from Sodaro, with Haug less than a minute further back. Sixth-placed Langridge crossed the line in 08:56:26, with Siddall rounding out the top-ten at 09:07:49.
In the men's race, Joe Skipper finished fifth whilst compatriot David McNamee didn't finish due to injury.
Skipper bettered his result from 2019 when he finished sixth, crossing the line in 07:54:05. He was part of one of the chase groups coming out of the water as multiple groups formed during the swim.
The Brit biked consistently to move through the field and closed in on the top-ten approaching T2. Holding off the challengers behind him to complete the run in 02:45:26, he claimed his best result in the IRONMAN World Championships and a place in the top-five.
Gustav Iden (NOR) took the win in a total time of 02:36:15, with his compatriot and Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, Kristian Blummenflet, coming third.
Sam Laidlow of France split the Norweigian athletes to take second, two minutes off Iden and a minute ahead of Blummenfelt.
In the women’s age group races, Anna Lawson set the fifth fastest time overall as she crossed the line in 09:56:55 to claim second place in the F25-29 age group. Lizi Brooke (F30-34: 8th), Jenny Close (F30-34: 10th), Joanne Gorrod (F50-54: 10th) and Elizabeth Gannon (F60-64: 5th) also finished in the top-ten in their age groups.
In the men’s age group races, Martin Gannon won the 65-69 age group in 10:55:21, whilst Robert Harrison (M50-54: 7th), Alan Bremner (M60-64: 5th), Martin Foster (M55-59: 6th), Ivan Jones (M55-59: 10th), and Christopher George (M75-79: 5th) all crossed the line in their age group’s top-ten.
Also in the age group racing, Sam Holness (M25-29) became the first openly autistic athlete to complete the IRONMAN World Championships in Kona. The 29 year-old finished the race in 13:05:44.
Afterwards, Holness said: “This is an epic event. I had some tummy issues today that made it really hard, but I pushed through, and I am so happy to finish.
“I’m definitely going to come back. I want to do this again and podium one day."
There are six age groups still to race and they will swim, bike, run on Saturday 8 October as well as the pro men.
To find out how to qualify for the 2023 IRONMAN World Championships, visit the IRONMAN website.
