Grace’s new sprint role

MANCHESTER-BASED British Cycling has announced a shake-up of its sprint coaching staff in a bid to widen the talent pool for future Olympic Games.

A disappointing showing from the sprinters at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Pruszkow, Poland at the start of the month highlighted current concerns within the programme, though the restructure has been in the pipeline for many months.

The main change will see Justin Grace step up from his current position as the lead sprint coach on the men’s side to take a more broad-reaching role with responsibility for developing both riders and coaches throughout the system.

A British Cycling statement said Grace will conduct a ‘a system-wide review to deliver sustainable success towards Paris 2024 and onwards’.

Kevin Stewart will be elevated from his role in the senior academy to replace Grace as the lead coach on the men’s sprint podium programme, while Jan Van Eijden will be responsible for the women’s programme.

Performance director Stephen Park said: “This restructure is not only aimed at supporting our riders so they are in the best possible position to win medals in Tokyo but also to tackle a long-standing challenge in track sprinting by growing the size of our talent pool.”

Britain failed to win a medal in any of the sprint events at the World Championships in Poland.