Gustav Iden successfully defended his men's Ironman World Championships 70.3 title ©Getty Images

Norway's Gustav Iden successfully defended his men's Ironman World Championships 70.3 title with a stunning performance at St George in the United States, while Britain's Lucy Charles-Barclay clinched her maiden world title in the women's event.

Iden had triumphed in Nice in France back in 2019, and was comfortable in his victory in the American state of Utah as he won by nearly four minutes.

The Norwegian completed the swim around one minute behind then-leader Ben Kanute of the United States, but a strong bike leg in 1 hour 58min 59sec saw him build a lead of just over one minute ahead of nearest challenger Magnus Ditlev of Denmark.

A run of 1:11:22 extended Iden's lead over the chasing pack and saw him finish the race in 3:37:13.

Home favourite Sam Long secured second in 3:41:09, while Denmark's Daniel Baekkegard rounded off the podium with a time of 3:42:24.

Lucy Charles-Barclay won the women's title by more than eight minutes ©Getty Images
Lucy Charles-Barclay won the women's title by more than eight minutes ©Getty Images

His compatriot Miki Taagholt was fourth in 3:43:08.

The women's race was won by Charles-Barclay, who had previously finished second three times at the Ironman World Championships and once in the 70.3 event, but this was her first ever gold at this level.

Charles-Barclay was quickest out of the blocks, completing the swim in 24:36 to build a lead of almost 90 seconds.

After finishing the bike stage in 2:14:59, her advantage was almost five minutes in front of the United States' Taylor Knibb, and a superb run saw her complete the race in 4:00:20.

That was more than eight minutes quicker than South Africa's Jeanni Metzier, who secured second in 4:08:39, and passed Knibb towards the end of the race as the American had to settle for bronze.