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Lucy Charles-Barclay<\/a> has been speaking ahead of the 2022 Ironman 70.3 World Championship and admits she\u2019s feeling fresher than she would ordinarily.<\/strong><\/p>\n The British star missed much of the season through injury<\/a><\/strong>, but returned in style in August, winning the World Triathlon Long Distance Championship<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n She followed that up with a silver at the PTO US Open<\/a><\/strong> and then took her fourth second-place finish at the Ironman World Championship in Kona<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now, just a few weeks later she\u2019s about to line up on the start line in St George, Utah, to defend her Ironman 70.3 World Championship.<\/p>\n Speaking about the year and her build up to Friday in the pre-race press conference, she said: \u201cI think in general it\u2019s been a very different year. This will only be my fourth race of the year and normally I\u2019d have raced a lot more by this point.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel fresher than I normally would. We always knew that if I was going to race her after Kona I kinda needed to finish Kona, put that behind me and then focus fully on this race and I feel like we\u2019ve done that really well mentally.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, actually, my body seems to have kept up, too, and it\u2019s feeling pretty fresh, so yeah, I\u2019m pretty happy with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Her prep hasn\u2019t been all plain sailing, though, with poor weather scuppering a few plans while she was in the mountains. \u201cWe\u2019ve been up the mountain and we had a big snowstorm,\u201d she explained. \u201cI had a brand new wetsuit that needed breaking in and we couldn\u2019t actually get down the mountain, so kinda playing around in the snow with my wetsuit was the best option.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve acclimatised quite well to the colder weather,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Charles-Barclay also took the time to reflect on her experiences in St George last year, when she won her first world title.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year was just an epic day. Everything went to plan and it was definitely the best I\u2019ve felt over the distance,\u201d she said. \u201cJust taking that tape was an amazing moment. Obviously it was the first time I\u2019d got a world title and I felt I\u2019d come so close over the Ironman distance, so to do it on the 70.3 was amazing.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a lot of emotion there and just coming back to St George, walking around the town, I got the memories from last year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I can do anything close to last year\u2019s performance then I\u2019ll be over the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to watch all the racing unfold this weekend? Here\u2019s how to watch the Ironman 70.3 World Championship live<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nFeeling fresh<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Is history going to repeat itself?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Watch the pre-race press conference in full<\/strong><\/h2>\n