Lucy Charles-Barclay has revealed the reason for her DNF at T100 London on Saturday after her big homecoming ended in disappointment.

The IRONMAN World Champion, a firm fan favourite, was positioned for a podium finish when she was forced to pull out during the run leg in the UK capital.

LCB unusually had company during the swim with short-course star Sophie Coldwell right with her all the way, but she did then lead until very late in the bike leg before being passed by eventual runner-up Imogen Simmonds.

LCB on London DNF

It was early in the 18km run that Lucy made the difficult decision to pull out, and afterwards she told PTO broadcaster Vicky Holland why she’d made the tough choice.

She revealed: “I’ve had a pretty rough build into this race – a few issues that maybe could have put me not on the start line. But I really wanted to be here, home race, the amazing fans and the crowd out there.

“I was feeling pretty good on the swim and the bike and then I just rolled my ankle out on the run and I felt something in my Achilles. And given the huge injury I’ve had on that leg I was like ‘I can’t risk this here’. It was incredibly tough to pull the pin given it’s a home race, and honestly the crowd was amazing out there. But unfortunately I had to make the smart decision today and hopefully not make it worse.”

Loving the capital vibes

As already stated, it’s not normal for anybody to be able to live with Lucy on the swim, but she enjoyed the battle with Coldwell and loved her race day until that unfortunate moment when it all ended on the run.

“It’s so nice to have a bit of company – we swapped the lead, so we had a bit of a go of taking turns, I think that’s always really nice. I felt pretty strong in the swim and it was a very interesting bike course, it was definitely quite challenging out there but the crowd were amazing so that was definitely giving me a good lift and you could see everyone out on the course, so it made it quite fun as well.”