Olympic head coach Christian Malcolm holds clear-the-air talks with British athletics stars following a ‘cry for help’ to Lord Sebastian Coe
- Group of track and field stars were scathing in their assessment of UK Athletics
- Several complained directly to Lord Sebastian Coe about the state of the sport
- Christian Malcolm says he has had ‘productive’ talks with a number of athletes
Christian Malcolm has held clear-the-air talks with some of Britain’s leading athletes after the astonishing scenes of last month when several complained directly to Lord Sebastian Coe about the state of the sport in this country.
As reported by Sportsmail, a collective of British track and field stars were scathing in their assessment of UK Athletics in a conversation with the president of World Athletics at the Diamond League finals in Zurich.
Within their criticisms, described by a source as a ‘cry for help’, they cited a lack of expertise and presence from UKA performance director Sara Symington and Olympic head coach Malcolm.
Christian Malcolm (above) says he has had ‘productive’ talks with a number of the athletes
Several athletes have even thought about walking away from the UKA funding system if the governing body do not make organisational changes after their worst Olympic showing since 1996.
Malcolm revealed he had since had ‘productive’ talks with a number of the athletes.
He said: ‘We have been in the post 11 months. We are listening to the athletes and we intend on doing things a lot better going forward. Some of the things were warranted, but some of the other things they didn’t know the answers to.
Some athletes had issued a ‘cry for help’ to Lord Sebastian Coe about the state of the sport
‘There has to be patience.’
Meanwhile, there was no place for CJ Ujah and Olympic 5,000m finalist Andrew Butchart among the 67 athletes named on the UKA funding list.
Ujah is ineligible as he challenges the failed drugs test that is set to cost the 4x100m relay team their Olympic silver medal. Symington denied Butchart’s omission was related to his suspended 12-month ban for saying he had changed the date on a Covid test result to travel to Britain.