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European Junior 1500 metre champion Jake Heyward and Commonwealth Youth discus silver medallist James Tomlinson are among 21 athletes included on the British Athletics Futures Academy programme for 2018.
The talented Welsh teenagers will benefit from a package of support for both themselves and their coaches as they attempt to progress to British Athletics’ World Class Programme. Heyward, now coached by James Thie, is one of four European Junior gold medallists included on the programme, joining Maya Bruney, Toby Harries, and Jemma Reekie.
The Futures Programme – supported by Nike – aims to confirm athlete’s potential and transition onto the World Class Programme (WCP) in 2018-19 and support those who have highlighted their potential to win medals at future Olympic and Paralympic Games.
As part of the bespoke package offered by British Athletics, the athletes will have access to the National Performance Institute at Loughborough and the ability to access performance support services, a series of workshops and experiences to develop skills required for senior international success and a programme of support aimed at ensuring the delivery of the Individual Athlete Plan (IAP) submitted by athletes and their coaches.
All athletes will have an assigned point of contact within the British Athletics performance team whose role is to support athletes and their personal coach with their 2018 IAP. The benefits to the personal coach include assistance towards delivering the individual development plans and supporting the athlete(s) in training and competition, as well as receiving mentoring and support as appropriate.
Athletes were shortlisted per event group, using a number of different performance and ‘potential’ factors but not limited to; performance profile, lifestyle and training environment, and ability to ‘bridge the gap’ onto the WCP in the next two years.
Tomlinson, who is coached by Paul Jensen, set a British Under record of 63.48 metres with the 1.5kg discus earlier in the year. He turns 18 on 11 January and is already ranked third on the Welsh all-time list at Under 20 behind Brett Morse and Lee Newman with the 1.75kg discus.
