In a tacit move to obliterate decisions taken under previous regimes, UK Athletics will today announce the appointment of Stephen Maguire to the most prominent coaching position in the country.
Maguire was widely regarded as the favorite to be appointed as British Athletics Olympic head coach when the role became available at the end of 2020. However, he was so angry because he was overlooked in favor of Christian Malcolm, his junior at the organization, that he resigned his job as the organization. federation’s head of sprints, hurdles and relays.
The decision to select Malcolm was made by former CEO Jo Coates, who also controversially brought in former cyclist Sara Symington as performance director. The shock resignation of Coates and Symington on the same day last October marked the arrival of a new regime, which has spent much of the past year enticing the respected Maguire to return.
Malcolm was told last week that he would be sacked under a shake-up that made his role redundant – a decision he admitted left him “very disappointed” – and it will be confirmed on Wednesday that his departure paves the way for Maguire to return to the newly created post of UK Athletics Technical Director from the end of this outdoor season.
Maguire was at the forefront of a huge turnaround in Britain’s sprint relay fortune, which created a buy-in and focus of athletes who had long been lacking during a long period of underachievement and disqualification. Both British men’s and women’s 4×100 meter teams won medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships under his leadership.
Since leaving UK Athletics, he has spent the past 17 months as head of high-performance coaching at Sport Ireland.