Maguire appointed head of Head of Power, sprints & hurdles
11th March 2014British Athletics have today announced that Stephen Maguire has been appointed to the post of Head of Power – sprints and sprint hurdles. Maguire’s role marks the second of three key appointments after Barry Fudge was announced as British Athletics’ Head of Endurance in December. The final appointment of Head of Jumps, Throws and Combined events will complete the three specialist roles reporting to British Athletics’ Performance Director Neil Black.
Maguire will remain in his current post as Head Coach at Scottish Athletics until the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games, after which he will assume responsibility for all sprint events.
Based at the British Athletics Performance Institute at Loughborough, Maguire will work closely with the sprint coaches and athletes and will also support event development through the event groups and Home Countries.
Commenting on the appointment, Neil Black said: "I am delighted to be welcoming Stephen to the British team set up. His work developing the sport is Scotland has been exceptional and he can now continue that on a UK wide basis.
"Of course it is important to both British Athletics and Scottish Athletics that Stephen continues to focus on the Scottish team through to the Commonwealth Games. We already work closely with Stephen in his current role and that will continue over the coming months so that we are in really good shape when he joins us.
"I'm particularly proud that we have effectively recruited for this senior role from within British athletics - part of our 'growing our own' philosophy. We have worked with our colleagues at Scottish Athletics to ensure that Stephen is available to support his replacement and continue the programme that is having such outstanding success.
Maguire added: "This is a fantastic opportunity for me to work with the British team. There is so much talent in British sprinting at the moment, both athletes and coaches, and I'm looking forward to working alongside them as we head towards Rio.
“We’ve started something in the past two years in Scotland and I would hope that there are now frameworks in place, which will help continue that. What is certain is that there are some highly talented and motivated Scottish athletes at the moment.
Scottish Athletics Chief Executive Nigel Holl said: "I am disappointed from a scottishathletics point of view because Stephen has made an excellent impact as Director of Coaching.
“But I am personally delighted for Stephen as he moves to some exciting opportunities ahead with British Athletics but of course for us it is a new chapter.
British Athletics’ overriding objective of the World Class Performance Programme is to win more medals at Rio 2016 across the Olympics and Paralympics than any other British sport.