It was redemption day for Lucy Charles-Barclay and Taylor Knibb at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships on Saturday, 8 November 2025.

After heartbreaking DNFs at last month’s IRONMAN World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, both women roared back to form in Spain – dominating the course and delivering a thrilling one-two finish that had fans on the edge of their seats (especially during the run!).

Although, not to be disparaging but let’s just say that some of the event coverage was less than ideal: *Cough* Cutting to a 3-minute commercial break just when Kat Matthews stopped during the half-marathon? Hmm. Anyway!

“It hasn’t been easy, but we made it, and it has definitely made up for the disappointment of Kona, for sure,” said Charles-Barclay after winning her second IRONMAN 70.3 world title.

Here’s how the day unfolded.

2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship Race Recap

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In brief:

• Great Britain’s Lucy Charles-Barclay claimed victory at the 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain, in a finish time of 4:14:54. Lucy has become the third female to win multiple world titles, joining Daniella Ryf (5) and Taylor Knibb (3).
• Taylor Knibb (USA) and Tanja Neubert (DEU) earned second and third spots on the podium in a thrilling race, coming in at 4:17:55 and 4:22:07, respectively.
• Kat Matthews (GBR) retired from the race during the run leg but held on to claim the 2025 IRONMAN Pro Series Overall Champion title.

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Words and images by: IRONMAN.

A bright view of the planet Venus rising on the horizon, followed by a beautiful sunrise, greeted female athletes in Marbella as the 2025 Precision Fuel & Hydration IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship women’s race got underway. 

True to form, Lucy Charles-Barclay (GBR) got off to a flying start, surging to an early lead and pushing the pace hard. She would continue to open up the gap throughout the 1.9km (1.2-mile) ROKA swim, expertly navigating the ocean swell to exit the water first in 25:05 – a commanding lead of 47 seconds to Taylor Knibb (USA) and Jess Learmonth (GBR) in second and third. 

Fourth out of the water was Djenyfer Arnold (BRA), followed by a large group between 2:05 and 2:20 minutes down on Charles-Barclay, featuring the likes of Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), Caroline Pohle (DEU), Kat Matthews (GBR), Ellie Salthouse (AUS), Solveig Løvseth (NOR), and Paula Findlay (CAN).  

Once out onto the 90km (56-mile) ZOOT bike course, Knibb wasted no time getting up to speed and had caught and passed Charles-Barclay to take the lead within the first 10km. As the riders continued to climb, Knibb slowly began to extend away from the rest of the field. 

However, in a repeat of last month’s race in Kona, Charles-Barclay was determined not to let Knibb get too far out of sight, capitalising on her descending skills to bridge the gap back to Knibb to rejoin her at the front of the race. 

Findlay was also one of the early quick riders, joining Learmonth around 20km as the pair took turns riding in third and fourth.  

By the halfway point, Knibb and Charles-Barclay had a 2:48 lead to Learmonth, and a 3:30-3:40 lead on Findlay, Sif Bendix Madsen (DNK), and Matthews. Behind the leaders and chase group, Marjolaine Pierré (FRA) was having a stellar ride, moving up from 19th out of the water to seventh after 60km, while Tanja Neubert was putting together a solid race, sitting around eighth place with a formidable run still to come. 

As the riders flew down the final descent toward T2, Knibb and Charles-Barclay remained together, with Knibb hitting the ROUVY transition first after a 2:28:36 bike. 

The trio of Matthews, Learmonth, and Bendix Madsen were next into transition, 3:49 down on the leaders, with Findlay dropped on the descent and reaching T2 with a 5:24 deficit to the front.  

Knibb flew onto the 21.1km (13.1-mile) HOKA run course, opening up a 26-second gap to Charles-Barclay within the first 2km, with the distance between the front two remaining consistent for the first 5km before Charles-Barclay began to pick up the pace and close the gap.

Charles-Barclay took the lead at the 7km mark and wouldn’t look back, slowly opening up an unassailable lead as she wound her way around the crowd-lined streets of Marbella. 

Behind the leading duo, Matthews came off the bike in third position, closing a 3:49 gap on the leaders down to 2:45 by the 5km mark and looking like she may run down the leaders as the run went on.

However, Matthews was unfortunately forced to retire not long after, with a crippling calf issue ending her day prematurely. 

This promoted Jess Learmonth into third place, with Tanja Neubert up to fourth.

With Charles-Barclay and Knibb well out in front, IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship rookie Neubert chipped away at Learmonth, moving into third by 8km into the run. 

After almost four and a quarter hours on the racecourse Charles-Barclay made her way onto the crowd lined finish chute on Puerto Banús Beach, taking the finish tape to become a two-time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion.

Knibb crossed the line three minutes later, with Neubert 7:12 behind the champion.  

Despite Matthews’ retirement, she had enough points from her other top races to claim back-to-back IRONMAN Pro Series titles.

Top five professional women’s results:  

	Country	Swim	Bike	Run	Finish
L. Charles-Barclay	GBR	25:05	2:29:41	1:17:14	4:14:54
T. Knibb	USA	25:52	2:28:36	1:20:21	4:17:55
T. Neubert	DEU	27:16	2:33:51	1:18:16	4:22:07
G.  Taylor-Brown	GBR	27:12	2:36:20	1:17:30	4:23:47
M. Pierré	FRA	28:35	2:32:36	1:20:05	4:23:55