The former sprinter moves into the role from his position as head of performance and coaching at Athletics Australia

Christian Malcolm has been confirmed as the new Olympic head coach of UK Athletics (UKA).

The former sprinter, who competed for Great Britain & Northern Ireland at four Olympic Games and won world, European and Commonwealth medals, has been head of performance and coaching at Athletics Australia since January 2019 and will take up his new post later this year.

It is understood that Malcolm was selected for the UKA role ahead of Stephen Maguire and Peter Eriksson and he will now work with athletes and coaches to prepare for the postponed Tokyo Olympics next summer.

“Words can’t describe how excited I am to have the opportunity to take this role on and be part of a new start for British Athletics,” Malcolm said. “As an athlete I knew I wanted to give back to the sport when I finished competing.

“In all my coaching and advisory roles so far, I have wanted to help athletes avoid the errors I made and support them and their coaches to get the best out of themselves. I’ve worked with some world class coaches throughout my career whilst competing, as part of the GB relay set up and whilst at Athletics Australia. They’ve all helped me to grow in various ways, but I know my first coach Jock Anderson would have been the most pleased to see me take this role and use all that he taught me about helping athletes prepare.

“I’m very excited to be re-joining British Athletics at this time. Jo (Coates) and Sara (Symington) have a great outlook as to what the sport can achieve from playground to podium. There is a new energy and drive and I’m looking forward to helping athletes and coaches towards success in Tokyo, Paris and beyond.”

More to follow…