“I feel like I have gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in my career.”
This is how the reigning 70.3 World Champion, Lucy Charles Barclay, described her state of mind
while discussing her recent injury. The injury occurred at such an unfortunate time that Barclay
will not be able to compete in the IRONMAN World Championship, which is scheduled to take place
in May. On March 31, Barclay, or LCB, as she is sometimes known as, uploaded a video on Youtube.
She revealed in this video, that she has a stress fracture in her left hip. Due to her injury,
she will be forced to withdraw from the IRONMAN World championship and her sub8 attempt.
What was supposed to be the most important year in her career has now been reduced to
bed rest. With two World Championships at the Ironman distance, her Sub8 attempt,
and the 70.3 World Champion at the end of the year, for which, she was expected to be the
frontrunner in all of these competitions. Sadly for her and her fans, Barclays will not be seen
in action soon but she has other plans as well. All of her plans, the details of her injury,
the amount of time she will require to recover, and the challenges of LCB
will all be discussed in today’s video. Welcome to Triathlon Global Insights,
the motivation channel for all triathletes. You may subscribe to our channel and click
the notification bell icon to stay updated on the latest news in the triathlon world.
We keep you updated on triathlon news, incredible races, training tips,
and information about pro athletes. Let’s get into the video now.
While most of you are familiar with Lucy Charles Barclay, for those who aren't, let us begin with
a brief introduction to her. Barclay, who is 28 years old, is a triathlete from London,
who specializes in long-distance and IRONMAN competitions. She began training as a swimmer
at an early age and excelled at it. when the Olympic Games came to London in 2012,
the Londoner gave it her all to be a part of the event. Despite her efforts, Barclay was unable to
qualify and turned to triathlon in 2014. She was only 19 years old at the time and had no prior
experience in professional running or cycling. But she was so determined that within 2 years,
Barclay became a professional triathlete. With back-to-back second-place finishes in 2017,
2018, and 2019, she kept the IRONMAN World Championship winner on her toes. She also
came second in the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in 2018. Barclays finally struck gold last year,
after years of settling for silver. She won the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship at St
George with a lead of more than eight minutes over the second-place finish. According to her,
this was the peak of her professional life. This was not the first time she had touched
the gold. Barclay won the Ironman European 70.3 Championships in 2021, the Ironman
African Championships in 2018 & 2019, and a few additional races as well. However, her victory at
St George in 2021 was remarkable as she was now more confident, and ready to scale new heights.
Following the highs of 2021, 2022 has not been quite as successful for the reigning 70.3 World
Champion. LCB is trained by her husband, Reece. He experienced a health condition at the start of the
year. Things improved and Reece started getting better, but devastating news awaited lucy. In her
video, Charles went to her sponsors complaining of ‘a not so terrible’ niggle in her hip. The scans
were completed by the sponsor, Red Bull, and the news of a minor fracture in the cortical region of
her bone was announced. At the same time, a large amount of oedema was concentrated in her bones,
which caused swelling. How bad is it?
Even the slightest injury is devastating. For a sportsperson, it is even worse. Their lives
revolve around whether or not they are physically active. An unexpected injury is a sportsperson’s
worst nightmare. Bone fractures and swelling are the last things any triathlete wants. LCB,
on the other hand, says in her video that it could have been far worse. She claims that if
the swelling had occurred on the inner side of the bone, the situation would have been much worse.
In her video, the world champion also mentions that her injury is unusual as she does not feel
any pain, claiming that her bone density might be normal. If this is the case, the London-born
triathlete’s recovery may be accelerated. Some professionals have advised her not to undertake
any exercise that is too aggressive. How long will she be out?
At this point, nothing can be said about it. Four weeks to four months, nobody knows for sure when
we are going to see LCB on the course again. It's still early in the game, so it's best to wait
before jumping to any conclusions. To be honest, injuries are a part and parcel of triathletes'
and runners' lives. In some cases, injuries often require surgery to correct the bone. Fortunately,
things are not that severe in her case. Nothing else can be said at this time. Nobody
knows when we'll see LCB on the course again, whether it'll be in four weeks or four months.
It's still early in the game, so it's best to wait before jumping to any conclusions.
The injury-induced rest has now brought her career to a sudden halt. While the Championship in Utah,
the same place where she won the championship last year, and the sub8 event are clearly
out of her bounds, she is also unaware of when she will be ready to compete. For now,
the woman who impressed everyone in 2021 has had to put her 2022 plans on hold.
But, for her fans' sake, she has stated that she will be present at the events in some capacity.
To keep herself motivated and inspired, Lucy plans to keep herself close to the event by
supporting or even commentating on it. We do hope that you liked the video and if you
did you must hit the subscribe button. Thank you for watching and staying with me up to the end! We
at Triathlon Global insights, keep you updated on triathlon news, incredible races, training tips,
and information about pro athletes. You may like, subscribe, and press
the notification bell so that you'll be updated on my next upload! Adios!