British triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay has battled to second place at the 2019 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
After leading for the majority of the endurance multi-sport race, the Red Bull athlete finished the gruelling race in a time of 8 hours, 46 minutes and 44 seconds – six minutes and 35 seconds behind eventual winner Anne Haug of Germany.
Charles-Barclay jumped out to an early lead following a strong 3.86km swim that had her six seconds ahead of her closest rival and five minutes in front of the main chasing pack.
The 26-year-old then put further distance between her competitors on the 180.25km bike ride, opening up a near eight-minute lead heading into the run.
It was only with 10km to go that Charles-Barclay lost her lead for the first time, as Haug passed in a blistering marathon time of 2:51:06.
Australia's Sarah Crowley looked to have bumped Charles-Barclay to bronze when she passed her moments later, but the British athlete composed herself and re-passed her.
Overall, Charles-Barclay led the race for 7 hours and 30 minutes.
It is her third successive silver medal at the World Championships in Hawaii, having finished runner up to Switzerland's Daniela Ryf in 2017 and 2018.
It caps off a season in which Charles-Barclay won races at Ironman South Africa, Challenge Roth, The Championship – Challenge Family and Ironman 70.3 Staffordshire.
The men's event was won by Jan Frodeno in a time of 7:51:13. British man Alistair Brownlee finished 21st in a time of 8:25:03.
