This is story 2 for the week from Stuart Weir. This feature concerns the funding of 66 athletes for GB Funding in 2022-2023. This is an important piece, and the approach that Team GB takes to funding is fascinating.
GB funded athletes 2022-23
Updated November 6, 2022
A group of 66 athletes have been nominated for membership to join the UK Athletics Olympic World Class Programme (WCP)* for 2022/23.
The athletes are in sections.
Olympic Podium 15 (compared to 17 last year)
Olympic Podium Potential 23 (26 last year)
Olympic Relays 17 (16 last year)
Olympic Confirmation Level 11 (8 last year)
Total 66 (67 last year)
The full of athletes is below.
The main points to note are as follows:
Matt Hudson-Smith (2022 European Champion and World Championship bronze is added to the podium level.
Daryll Neita, who ran eight sub-11-second 100m races in 2022, is promoted from relay to podium.
Cindy Sember (fifth in the World Championship) is promoted from potential to podium.
Five athletes who were on the Podium level in 2021-2 have not retained their status. Adam Gemili is not relay only. Callum Hawkins, Abigail Irozuru, Lynsey Sharp and Lorraine Ugen have lost funding.
Victoria Ohuruogu, now 29, ran a PR, was second in Commonwealth 400m and fourth in the Europeans, has been added to relay funding for the first time.
Stephen Maguire, Technical Director at UK Athletics, commented, “We look forward to working with the athletes and their coaches, and seeing where the World Class Programme can support them appropriately, and where it can add value to enhance their potential as we look ahead to Budapest, Paris and beyond.
“Alongside the success of the Futures programme we are seeing a huge amount of young talent emerging through the system, and the standards are continuing to rise as those athletes develop and push on.
“With this introduction of young talent on to the Programme, joining a number of experienced athletes who have or are establishing their ability on the international stage, we will be looking to build on the momentum and success of the 2022 season and take that into the World Athletics Championships in Budapest next year, the Olympic Games in Paris, and looking further ahead, into Los Angeles in 2028.
“We’d like to thank UK Sport and the National Lottery for their continued investment in the World Class Programme. Their support is essential to helping our athletes be the best prepared they can be for the biggest competitions.”
The list of athletes with the name of their coach and the club to which they are affiliated
The UK Athletics Olympic World Class Programme Athletes for 2022/23:
Olympic Podium (15):
Dina Asher-Smith (John Blackie, Blackheath and Bromley)
Alex Bell (Andrew Henderson, Pudsey & Bramley)
Holly Bradshaw (Scott Simpson, Blackburn)
Keely Hodgkinson (Trevor Painter, Leigh)
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Gary Evans, Birchfield)
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Aston Moore, Liverpool)
Josh Kerr (Danny Mackey, Edinburgh)
Nick Miller (Tore Gustafsson, Border)
Laura Muir (Andy Young, Dundee Hawkhill)
Daryll Neita (Marco Airale, Cambridge Harriers)
Andrew Pozzi (Stratford-upon-Avon)
Jemma Reekie (Andy Young, Kilbarchan)
Jazmin Sawyers (Aston Moore, City of Stoke)
Cindy Sember (Chris Johnson, Woodford Green Essex Ladies)
Jake Wightman (Geoff Wightman, Edinburgh)
Olympic Podium Potential (23):
Lizzie Bird (Pat McCurry, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Emily Borthwick (Alex Stewart, Wigan, and District)
Taylor Campbell (John Pearson, Windsor Slough Eton, and Hounslow)
Molly Caudery (Stuart Caudery, Thames Valley)
Harry Coppell (Kate Rooney, Wigan, and District)
Oliver Dustin (Graeme Mason, Border)
Niamh Emerson (Ashley Bryant, Newham, and Essex Beagles)
Tom Gale (Denis Doyle, Team Bath)
Elliot Giles (Jon Bigg, Birchfield)
Jake Heyward (Mark Rowland, Cardiff)
Jessie Knight (Marina Armstrong, Windsor Slough Eton, and Hounslow)
Morgan Lake (Robbie Grabarz, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow)
Scott Lincoln (Paul Wilson, City of York)
Eilish McColgan (Liz Nuttall, Dundee Hawkhill)
Sophie McKinna (Paul Wilson, Great Yarmouth)
Naomi Metzger (Aston Moore, Trafford)
Lawrence Okoye (Zane Duquemin, Croydon)
Aimee Pratt (Vicente Modahl, Sale Harriers Manchester)
Charlotte Purdue (Nic Bideau, Aldershot Farnham and District)
Daniel Rowden (Jon Bigg, Woodford Green Essex Ladies)
Marc Scott (Jerry Schumacher, Richmond, and Zetland)
Katie Snowden (Stephen Haas, Herne Hill)
Callum Wilkinson (Rob Heffernan, Enfield, and Haringey)
Olympic Relays (17):
Kristal Awuah (Gary Evans, Herne Hill)
Zoey Clark (Ryan Oswald, Thames Valley)
Emily Diamond (Jared Deacon, Bristol & West)
Beth Dobbin (Leon Baptiste, Edinburgh)
Jona Efoloko (Clarence Callender, Sale Harriers Manchester)
Adam Gemili (Marco Airale, Blackheath, and Bromley)
Zharnel Hughes (Glen Mills, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Richard Kilty (Leon Baptiste, Gateshead)
Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Ryan Freckleton, Sutton & District)
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (Ryan Freckleton, Newham, and Essex Beagles)
Ashleigh Nelson (Leon Baptiste, City of Stoke)
Ashleigh Nelson, Bianca Williams. Darryl Neita replaced Ashleigh Nelson
in the final. photo by England Athletics
Laviai Nielsen (Philipp Unfried, Enfield, and Haringey)
Victoria Ohuruogu (Christine Ohuruogu, Newham and Essex Beagles)
Asha Philip (Amy Deem, Newham, and Essex Beagles)
Ama Pipi (Marco Airale, Enfield, and Haringey)
Jodie Williams (Stuart McMillan, Herts Phoenix)
Nicole Yeargin (Boogie Johnson, Pitreavie)
Olympic Confirmation Level (11):
Jeremiah Azu (Marco Airale, Cardiff)
Ellie Baker (Jon Bigg, Shaftesbury Barnet)
Max Burgin (Ian Burgin, Halifax Harriers)
Piers Copeland (Bob Smith, Pontypridd)
Charlie Dobson (Benke Blomkvist, Colchester)
Alex Haydock-Wilson (Benke Blomkvist, Windsor Slough Eton, and Hounslow)
Holly Mills (Laura Turner-Alleyne, Andover)
Jade O’Dowda (John Lane, Newham, and Essex Beagles)
Ben Pattison (Dave Ragan, Basingstoke, and Mid Hants)
Tommy Ramdhan (Michael Afilaka, Bexley)
Matthew Stonier (Chris and Sonia McGeorge, Invicta East Kent)
The small print!
*The Olympic WCP is UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded initiative supporting the delivery of success at named milestone targets, namely outdoor track World and European Championships and the Olympic Games, with Budapest 2023 and Paris 2024 the next major events on the athletics calendar.
The WCP is split into several levels reflecting athletes’ actual and potential performance levels: Podium, Podium Potential, Relay and Confirmation. Athletes are nominated for the WCP to further the aim of UK Athletics to win medals at the 2024 and/or 2028 Olympic Games. UKA are committed to the principle that winning will always be achieved with integrity and in line with UK Sport’s ambition of ‘Keep Winning and Win Well’.
Therefore, UKA must be confident that any athlete nominated for the WCP has the realistic potential, demonstrable performance capability, and capacity to make the necessary progress to achieve a medal at least in one of the next two Olympic Games.
As per previous years, the nomination for WCP membership is subject to UK Sport ratification and a signed athlete agreement between the athlete and UKA.
I am mystified; of the 66 or so athletes funded at various levels by UK Athletes, which basically means the taxpayer or National lottery, only about 9 of them represented the U K at the ongoing European Indoor Games in Istanbul and at the recent games only a handful of “stars” could be bothered to participate.
These people lead a fairly comfortable life based presumably on a performance level. I would like to know how U K athletics bases its handouts when the vast majority of athletes are not performing. or never more than two or three times a year, as in the case of Johnson Thompson/Holly Bradshaw, Cindy Sember, Josh Kerr, and others.
Surely the athletes must be monitored and given a number of events they must attend to qualify for a handout.
Doug, thanks for your comment, although I do dispute the term’ “handout.’ One other note, an athlete who delivers an Olympic bronze medal, in my opinion, has shown that they can perform at the most rarefied levels.