Christian Malcolm is SACKED by UK Athletics less than two years on from being appointed

Christian Malcolm has been sacked as head coach of UK Athletics amid additional turmoil on the under-fire governing physique.

The former sprinter will stay in his publish by way of the congested summer time of three main championships, however will then go away following a tough tenure. Sportsmail understands Stephen Maguire, who was controversially missed in favour of Malcolm in September 2020, is favorite to step in to a brand new technical director function.

Malcolm was handed the unenviable activity of stabilising a British group low on star high quality throughout the pandemic, however having did not ship a gold in an in any other case underwhelming Olympics, the place they received simply 5 medals, he additionally confronted private criticisms of his administration. That got here to a head in an notorious assembly in Zurich final autumn between main British athletes and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.

Ex-Great Britain sprinter Christian Malcolm has been sacked as head coach of UK Athletics

In an announcement on Friday Malcolm mentioned: ‘I am very disappointed to hear about the news but understand the rationale around this decision.

‘My priority now is to continue working in the same way, maintaining professionalism and doing my job throughout the summer. I am fully focused on supporting our athletes and coaches, during this extremely busy summer for our sport.

‘We have some incredibly talented athletes – some of whom have ambitious aims to compete across three major championships this summer. 

Malcolm, a medallist at Commonwealth, European and world level, will remain in his post through the congested summer of three major championships

‘I’m wanting ahead to seeing them compete and supporting these people in direction of the World and European Championships, in addition to representing their dwelling nations throughout the Commonwealth Games.’

Malcolm was described by one GB athlete as ‘a good guy’ however ‘wasn’t superb at organisational components’. His successor is anticipated to be finalised earlier than subsequent month’s World Championships. As a part of the UKA restructure behind the change, they are saying there will probably be elevated monetary funding into private coaches of athletes – a transfer in keeping with the requests of quite a lot of their main performers.

Mark Munro, interim CEO for UKA mentioned: ‘We are extremely grateful and appreciative to Christian for his time and efforts as well as his commitment and professionalism during his time as head coach.

Stephen Maguire (pictured in May 2019) is favourite to step in to a new technical director role

‘Taking on board a role during a pandemic and the associated challenges that brings – alongside staffing and structure changes – has been incredibly challenging. He has worked hard to steady the ship and continued to be professional throughout.

‘Unfortunately given all the changes we need to make and the greater prioritisation for investment into personal coaches, the Olympic head coach role does not sit within the revised structures. However, we have made a commitment to work with Christian over the summer with the potential for exploring other roles within the structure to enable us to maintain his involvement with UKA.’