It's been far from an ideal year for reigning Ironman 70.3 world champ Lucy Charles-Barclay, with an injury ruling her out of both the 2021 Ironman World Championship in May and her Sub8 attempt in June.
But she returned to racing last month after a period of rehab and recovery, taking the win at the World Triathlon Long Distance Championship in a dominant performance.
She then followed that up with a third-place finish at the inaugural PTO US Open after leading the swim and having a few issues on the bike.
Understandably, the question on everyone's lips now is, will she race at the Ironman World Championship in Kona next month? Given her long long layoff and the fact that the Ironman 70.3 World Championship follows three weeks later, it had been tricky to try and guess.
Some had suggested that she may want to keep herself fresh for the latter so she had a better chance of defending her title.
All that guessing has now been put to rest, however, with Charles-Barclay announcing her decision in an Instagram post. And it seems the pull of the Big Island was too much to ignore.
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A post shared by Lucy Charles-Barclay (@lucycharles93)
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Speaking in the short video on her Instagram, she says: "There's obviously one big thing looming over me, which is trying to win the Ironman World Championship in Kona."
The accompanying caption says: "Guess what... I won't be missing out on another shot at a World Title on the Big Island."
It's exciting news for triathlon fans around the world, with a strong field set to line up on the starting line in just a few weeks time.
The Brit secured three successive second-place finishes at Kona between 2017 and 2019, but will be hoping she can go one better in 2022.
Standing in her way will be reigning world champ Daniela Ryf, while the other podium finishers from that day, Kat Matthews and Anne Haug, are also expected to offer fierce competition. Read our Ironman World Championship women's race preview for more on the competition.
Top image credit: Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images for Ironman
