Lucy Charles-Barclay: "People Think Elite Athletes Are Robots Without Human Emotions"

When Red Bull Athlete and Professional Triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay pivoted from being a open water swimmer to an Ironman Triathlete after missing out on qualifying for the 2012 Olympics, she never dreamed she would get this far. Charles-Barclay took part in her first competition in 2015 and now she's at the peak of the sport after winning the 2023 Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. "Now that I've achieved that Ironman World title, I can come away from my career happy — but that doesn't mean that I'm not still motivated to achieve more big things," she tells PS UK.

In recent years, women have begun to break through barriers in the Ironman world, and are now just as successful in the elite sport as men. "I think the sport has really grown on the female side. Don't get me wrong, it's still heavily male dominated but there's so many amazing female role models in the sport now," she tells PS UK. For the uninitiated, the Ironman Triathlon consists of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1 mile run and is one of the be the toughest elite sports both physically and mentally — and Charles-Barclay has never shied away from that.

As summer approaches, most of the sporting world are preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympics However, the athlete recently announced that she would not be competing in the Olympics or defending her World Championship title and instead she would be focusing on the eight-race T100 series, which requires athletes to compete in at least five races plus the Grand Final.

After putting out a statement on Instagram, the athlete received online backlash, which was difficult to see play out. Charles-Barclay admits: "I felt like I dedicated my whole career to the World Championship. I attempted it five times, coming in second four times before winning and pushed through two major injuries - mentally it definitely took its toll on me."

She explains that hearing so many different opinions was a challenging thing to navigate: "Loads of people online were saying: 'Everyone defends their title, you have to do that.' I thought: 'I can do whatever I want as an athlete and I need to do what sets my soul on fire and excites me to get out of bed in the morning' because it's bloody hard what we do getting out of bed at 5am every day to train."

The Ironman Triathlete was very clear about why she made the decision, stating that it was 'unrealistic' to do both events at one time. She admits: "I think sometimes people think that elite athletes are robots and we don't have human emotions. They think we just have our plan on a piece of paper and nothing ever goes wrong, but we're living breathing humans — we can get sick or injured." She makes it clear that this shift doesn't mean she's never going to do an Ironman again, and has hopes of going back to Hawaii in 2025. "To me, going back to the same course feels a bit more like defending my title than going to the new racecourse in Nice."

Whether they're in politics, fashion or entertainment — or for Charles-Barclay, sports – women still face disproportionate levels of body-shaming. She reveals: "Men certainly don't get it as much as us but I think we are moving forward as a sport and realising that actually, there's no one body shape that suits performance."

Over the last two years, the athlete has had two major injuries, including a hip fracture and a metatarsal fracture. During an anxiety-driven time, there was a lot of speculation surrounding her body. Charles-Barclay reveals: "Often bone injuries are associated with not eating enough. A lot of female athletes can go through something called Red Syndrome where they don't get their period and things like this happen. So, a lot of people were like 'Oh, well, she's getting too skinny, I bet she's not having a period.' All of that was categorically not true." Through the help and assistance of Red Bull, she got back on her feet. The brand were instrumental in helping her recover in Red Bull's performance centre.

Talking about menstrual health in the sporting world is still seen as taboo but it's one that the Red Bull athlete hopes to change. She casts her mind back to a viral image of Emma Pallant-Browne, a 34-year-old British triathlete, who was competing in the PTO European Open triathlon in Spain last year when a photographer snapped a pictureof her with a small blood stain on her unitard. "Some people were saying the photos were 'disgusting' and 'unflattering' and it's like no, this is what we should be seeing. Just because you're on your period doesn't mean you shouldn't be racing or training, you can still do it," Charles-Barclay explains.

The athlete wants to make menstrual health in sports a regular conversation in order to help the next generation. She says: "I do hear a lot about young girls when they get to puberty, dropping out of sport because of this. I want young girls in sports to know that getting your cycle is healthy and not something to be ashamed of." However, she explains that she wants them to also know the reality of it. "One of hardest things about being a female athlete is having to manage your cycle with racing. Sometimes your time of the month just happens to fall on the wrong day when you've got a race," she admits.

As Charles-Barclay looks back on her career so far, she feels proud of the strides she's made — but she's not done just yet. "There's still some big goals that I have in this sport," she says. "But taking the leap from swimming to Ironman, I almost feel like I got a second chance at a sporting career and I never expected it to go the way that it has." Whilst she still has her sights on some more personal goals, she hopes to give back to the next generation. She says: "Hopefully, I can just continue to share and inspire. One day when I'm done with triathlon, I'll also be able to really help nurture future athletes in this sport, especially women, and hopefully push them to the top as well."

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Aaliyah Harry (she/her) is the associate editor at PS UK. She writes extensively across lifestyle, culture and beauty. Aaliyah also has a deep passion for telling stories and giving voice to the voiceless. Previously, she has contributed to Refinery29, Grazia UK and The Voice Newspaper.