Malcolm in frame to be top UKA coach
A THREE-WAY race has developed for the head coach role at UK Athletics with former sprinter Christian Malcolm emerging as a serious contender. Stephen Maguire is favourite for the post and faces strong competition from Toni Minichiello, but Sportsmail understands Malcolm has become prominent in the reckoning. The 41-year-old, a world bronze medallist for Britain in 2005 and 2007, is the head of high performance at Athletics Australia, but multiple sources have indicated the UKA hierarchy want to bring the former sprinter back to this country in some capacity. That includes the possibility of him landing the newly created head coaching role in a restructured set-up as UKA rebuild after missing their medal target at last year’s World Championships. Malcolm was UKA’s head coach of the 4x100m relay team between 2015 and early 2019. UKA are hoping to finalise an appointment next month and Maguire, the highly-rated Scottish Athletics director of coaching, is still the front-runner, having initially turned down an approach to replace the late Neil Black as performance director last year. Maguire is keen on the role, as is Jessica Ennis-Hill’s former coach Minichiello, who has admirers within the organisation and would be expected to deliver a jolt to the performance set-up. The search comes as UKA are also looking to fill a more administration-based performance director position. The interim pairing of Steve Paulding and Tommy Yule are each understood to be in the running, as are Sara Symington, performance director of England Netball, Mike Cavendish, who does the same role at British Triathlon, and Scott Simpson, the pole vault coach to Holly Bradshaw. UKA’s coaching overhaul will also include a new head of endurance after Barry Fudge’s departure was announced last week. Fudge had come under scrutiny because of his support for Mo Farah’s banned former coach Alberto Salazar.