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- Wanted Down Under: Christian Malcolm Moving To Top Job With Athletics Australia
Christian Malcolm has been appointed to a top athletics job in Australia.
Wales’s four-time Olympic sprinter is to become head of performance and coaching at Athletics Australia.
The 39-year-old worked with the Wales team at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast last April but is now moving Down Under permanently.
“Australian athletes have a very strong record at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games but we can achieve even more success by giving our coaches the support, advice and resources they need to do their job well,” said Malcolm, who will make the move next month.
“I was on the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games with the Wales team and I saw the deep talent pool that exists in this country.
“Coaching is always the key factor in ensuring this sort of talent reaches its full potential. I’ll be working first and foremost with Australian coaches to ensure they are nurturing their athletes and creating the best possible training environment.”
Malcolm will work with national head coach Craig Hilliard for next year’s world championships in Doha and through to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
He will also work with Andrew Faichney, who was recently appointed to the newly created role of head of high performance systems.
The Newport-born sprinter won medals at World Championships, World Indoors and Commonwealth Games and was twice a finalist at the Olympics in Sydney 2000 and Beijing eight years later.
Malcolm was IAAF world junior athlete of the year in 1998.
He has also been a successful coach over the last few years overseeing the successful relay squads as well as working with with the UK Paralympic team and Disability Wales.
Malcolm won the UK Sports Awards HP Coach of the Year and BBC Wales Coach of the Year in 2017. He has worked as a speed coach for the England Cricket team, Welsh Rugby team and others.
He is on the Board of Welsh Athletics and Sport Wales and he was on the Board of the British Olympic Athlete Commission
Athletics Australia chief executive Darren Gocher said: “He has great attributes and his calibre will ensure the future of Australian athletics is strong, and furthermore that our performance leading into the World Championships in Doha next year and into the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 is of the highest quality it can be.”
