Christian Malcolm loses role as head coach of UK Athletics

Christian Malcolm says he is "disappointed" his role of Olympic head coach is being discontinued by UK Athletics.

Malcolm was appointed in September 2020 but his role will cease in August after the European Championships in Munich.

UK Athletics says the move will see more investment into coaches, and will discuss opportunities with Malcolm.

New positions, including technical director, will be introduced in the restructure.

"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," said interim CEO Mark Munro.

"Taking on board a role during a pandemic and the associated challenges that brings - alongside staffing and structure changes - has been incredibly challenging.

"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 UK Athletics."

A former world, European and Commonwealth Games medallist, Malcolm competed at four Olympics and was head of performance at Australia Athletics before being named as head coach by UK Athletics.

The 43-year-old Welshman said: "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."