FORMER Newport Olympic sprinter Christian Malcolm has been appointed as British Athletics' Olympic Programme head coach.

The 41-year-old Welshman, who represented Great Britain at the 2000 and 2008 Olympic Games, will lead the senior teams at major championships once he takes up the post later this year.

Malcolm, a world, European and Commonwealth Games medallist, had been head of performance at Athletics Australia since January 2019 after leaving his role as British Athletics' technical lead for sprint relays.

He said: "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."

Malcolm attended Hartridge High School before going on to become one of Wales' most prominent 200 metre runners.

After winning two gold medals at the 1998 Junior World Championships in the 100m and 200m, he went on to receive a number of senior honours with the Welsh and British teams.

Malcolm won a silver medal at the Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur, as well as a World Championship silver medal in 2010. He retired from running in 2014, before taking a coaching role with the Australian athletics team in 2019.

"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," he said.

"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.

"I'm very excited to be re-joining British Athletics at this time.

"Jo (Coates) and Sara (Symington) have a great outlook as to what the sport can achieve from playground to podium. "There is a new energy and drive and I'm looking forward to helping athletes and coaches towards success in Tokyo, Paris and beyond."

British Athletics chief executive Joanna Coates said: "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.

"Alongside Sara, Christian will bring a fresh new approach to the performance team as we head towards Tokyo and future Olympic cycles."