As the dust settles from the Tokyo Olympics, the national governing body has named 67 athletes who will receive Lottery funding in the next 12 months – and it includes some notable omissions

With less money to play with than in the past, there were always likely to be a number of disgruntled athletes left out of the British Athletics Olympic World Class Programme for 2021-22.

The governing body had the difficult task of trimming a short list of 124 candidates down to just 67 who would benefit from Lottery funding during the coming year. They include obvious names like Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Laura Muir but also a number of newcomers to the top level ‘podium’ funding such as Keely Hodgkinson.

As with selection for major championships, human instinct and judgement has gradually been replaced in recent years by a reliance on athletes fulfilling certain performance-related criteria. Still, a number of controversial decisions have been made with a handful of surprising omissions.

Altogether there are 17 athletes on Olympic podium funding, with 26 on podium potential, plus 16 relay runners. In addition a new group has been created called ‘confirmation level’ where eight up-and-coming athletes have been tentatively brought into the World Class Performance Programme.

So who are the winners and losers from the latest round of British Athletics Olympic World Class Programme decisions?

Winners

Sawyers is joined by fellow long jumpers Abigail Irozuru and Lorraine Ugen too.

Losers

The race walker said: “I’m so disappointed to be removed for the program after a season hampered by injury. The loss of financial and medical support will be huge. I want to thank those who’ve helped and supported me since 2015!  We’re so lucky to have the WCP, so congratulations to all selected!”

Surprises

On the decisions, performance director Sara Symington said: “The selection process is robust and lengthy, and we use a lot of data which is complemented by the knowledge of our event leads to inform the decision-making process.

“We have given careful consideration to those athletes who meet the selection criteria and performance matrix which align to the future ambitions of the World Class Programme.”

The complete list of funded athletes for 2021-22 is as follows…

Olympic Podium (17)
Dina Asher-Smith
Alex Bell
Holly Bradshaw
Adam Gemili
Callum Hawkins
Keely Hodgkinson
Abigail Irozuru
Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Josh Kerr
Nick Miller
Laura Muir
Andrew Pozzi
Jemma Reekie
Jazmin Sawyers
Lynsey Sharp
Lorraine Ugen
Jake Wightman

Olympic Podium Potential (26)

Elizabeth Bird
Emily Borthwick
Taylor Campbell
Harry Coppell
Melissa Courtney-Bryant
Oliver Dustin
Niamh Emerson
Tom Gale
Elliot Giles
Jake Heyward
Jessie Knight
Morgan Lake
Scott Lincoln
Eilish McColgan
Sophie McKinna
Naomi Metzger (née Ogbeta)
Lawrence Okoye
Aimee Pratt
Charlotte Purdue
Daniel Rowden
Marc Scott
Cindy Sember
Jessica Turner
Jamie Webb
Laura Weightman
Callum Wilkinson

Olympic Relays (16)

Kristal Awuah
Zoey Clark
Emily Diamond
Beth Dobbin
Zharnel Hughes
Richard Kilty
Imani-Lara Lansiquot
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake
Daryll Neita
Ashleigh Nelson
Laviai Nielsen
Asha Philip
Ama Pipi
Reece Prescod
Jodie Williams
Nicole Yeargin
* note, relays funding is not inferior money-wise compared to other areas

Olympic Confirmation Level (8)

Jeremiah Azu
Ellie Baker
Molly Caudery
Piers Copeland
Jona Efoloko
Jessica Mayho
Holly Mills
Thomas Randolph