Christian Malcolm named as British Athletics' first black head coach for Olympics

Christian Malcolm has been confirmed as the new Olympic programme head coach for British Athletics. The 41-year-old, who was head of performance at Australia Athletics, will join the troubled organisation later this year and become the first black coach to take the role.

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Malcolm, who is a former world, European and Commonwealth Games medallist and competed at two Olympics, said he was delighted at the news.

“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. 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.”

Joanna Coates, CEO at British Athletics, added: “I am really pleased to appoint Christian to this role. His credentials are numerous but most impressive was the energy and vision he had for the Head Coach role during the recruitment process.

“The panel were incredibly impressed by both his technical knowledge and approach to high performance – putting the athlete first, championing welfare and also a change in culture that will really enhance the World Class programme.

“Christian will bring a fresh new approach to the performance team as we head towards Tokyo and future Olympic cycles.”