Decision awaited on Varnish appeal

The decision in Jess Varnish’s employment tribunal appeal will be announced today.

Varnish lost her initial employment case against British Cycling in January 2019.

The 29-year-old, who was controversially dropped from the Great Britain programme for the 2016 Rio Olympics, argued at the original tribunal that she should be considered an employee of British Cycling or the funding agency UK Sport.

But the judge agreed with the governing bodies that the lottery funding provided to athletes like Varnish made them more akin to students receiving grants than employees.

Varnish won the right to an appeal in December last year and it was heard in May.

The appeal judge, Mr Justice Choudhury, must decide whether the law was applied correctly in the original tribunal.

The judge could overturn the original decision – in which case British Cycling would have the right to appeal – uphold the original decision, or decide that a new hearing is required.

Varnish said in December, when the right to appeal was granted: “We could easily have walked away after the original decision went against us, however, I believe we’re doing the right thing by not giving up.

“I want to give athletes an opportunity to hold to account employees of governing bodies, who they interact with on a daily basis, and have significant control over their careers and opportunities.”

Former European track champion Varnish was dropped from the team shortly after she and Katy Marchant narrowly failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games in the team sprint.

Both criticised their coaches after their final race for mistakes made during qualification.

Soon after her exit, Varnish claimed she had been told “to go and have a baby” by British Cycling’s former technical director Shane Sutton.

Jess Varnish in action in 2012.