“Not overfuelling” key as Georgia Taylor-Brown impresses on Ironman 70.3 World Championship debut

Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown felt the learnings taken from T100 races in London and France were crucial in helping her deliver a strong debut performance at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Marbella.

The Lancashire-born triathlete, who decided to target a more eclectic mix of races following last year’s Paris Olympics, included the Professional Triathletes Organisation’s 100km events in this year’s schedule, but struggled to get the fuelling right and hasn’t been able to perform to her potential.

“The aim today was to set off fairly steady and pace myself,” she explained. “After having a really bad stomach for the past two T100s, I really tried to focus on the nutrition today and not overfuelling like I did last time, and I got to the end and I didn’t have an upset tummy.”

The more cautious approach allowed Taylor-Brown to run a 1:17:30 half-marathon, just 16sec slower than the race-best effort from champion Lucy Charles-Barclay, and meant she overtook France’s Marjolaine Pierré to place an impressive fourth.

It was also a reward for resilience because the day hadn’t started to plan for the 31-year-old. “I love climbing so I was really excited about this course, and then when I got out there I felt awful,” she said.

“My legs didn’t feel good at all, I couldn’t go with any pace, so I just had to accept that to be honest. I thought well this is me today and I’ve got to work with what I’ve got. I didn’t panic.

“I was dreading the run to be honest, because I thought: ‘If I feel like this on the bike, what the hell is the run going to feel like?’ In T2 I was so slow putting my socks on and walking out of T2, because I really didn’t want to start running.

“But surprisingly I set off and I felt very bouncy. People were telling me I was the fastest on the course, but I think they say that to everyone!”

Taylor-Brown hopes she will now feel as bouncy in her recovery, because she is planned to line up in Dubai T100 next weekend, followed by a race in Phuket before heading to Bahrain 70.3 to defend the title she won last year. 

After that 2026 will be a refocus on short course as she starts to accrue qualification points for a potential third Olympic Games appearance in Los Angeles in 2028.

Tim Heming Freelance triathlon journalist

About

Experienced sportswriter and journalist, Tim is a specialist in endurance sport and has been filing features for 220 for a decade. Since 2014 he has also written a monthly column tackling the divisive issues in swim, bike and run from doping to governance, Olympic selection to pro prize money and more. Over this time he has interviewed hundreds of paratriathletes and triathletes from those starting out in the sport with inspiring tales to share to multiple Olympic gold medal winners explaining how they achieved their success. As well as contributing to 220, Tim has written on triathlon for publications throughout the world, including The Times, The Telegraph and the tabloid press in the UK.