She’s back! Lucy Charles-Barclay storms to the World Long-Distance title

If there were any questions about how long it might be before Lucy Charles-Barclay was fit to race again, they were allayed at today’s World Triathlon Long Distance Championships Samorin as the British star finished with a brilliant victory by over three minutes returned compatriot Emma Pallant-Browne. The podium was rounded off by last year’s winner, Sarissa de Vries (NED).

It came as no surprise that Charles-Barclay took the lead in the 2km swim in the Danube alongside x-bionicsphere – the sports paradise of Slovakia which has hosted a huge weekend of racing including yesterday’s Collins Cup and Thursday’s Aquathlon World Championships took over.

See also: Findlay and Sanders win their Collins Cup matches

After an injury sidelined her and prevented the three-time Kona runner-up from returning to St. George to chase another world title (Charles-Barclay won the 70.3 world title in Utah last year), it was easy to imagine that Charles- Barclay may not be in spectacular form when she returns to racing. Nothing could be further from the truth – after leading out of the water at over a minute (New Zealander Rebecca Clarke was second), Charles Barclay led for much of the bike save for a couple of short stints where de Vries was ahead. The pair met T2 a few seconds apart, with Pallant-Browne and Frances Marjolaine Pierre about three minutes behind.

Once on the run, however, the normally fast-running Pierre quickly lost ground – likely the victim of too much pressure on the bike. Pallant-Browne initially made up some ground, but as she moved into second place ahead of de Vries, Charles-Barclay had found another gear and started adding the time.

In the end, Charles-Barclay added the day’s fastest run to her fastest swim split, finishing in 3:34:17. Pallant-Browne would take the silver medal (3:37:29), with de Vries remaining in third place (only – Australia’s Grace Thek finished in 16 seconds). Brazil’s Luisa Baptista had the fastest run of the day (1:04:09) to move up to fifth place (3:41:02) while Pierre dropped to sixth place (3:43:10).

(For those wanting to compare times from yesterday’s Collins Cup, today’s race took place in a very choppy Danube River, while yesterday’s event took place in a very calm canal next to the x-bionicsphere.)

Le Corre runs to the men’s title

Last year’s Challenge Championship winner here at the x-bionicsphere, Florian Angert, couldn’t keep the magic going – after falling off his bike he was caught escaping by Frenchman Pierre le Corre, who had just won a silver medal last week European Championships. The Frenchman clocked an impressive time of 3:11:15, 2:14 ahead of Germany’s Angert and 4:25 ahead of bronze medalist (and fellow German) Frederic Funk.

The results of the Multisport World Championships can be found here.