The first instalment of the British Athletics Futures 4×100 m Sprint Relays Programme kicked off at the weekend at the National Performance Institute in Loughborough.

After claiming gold in the men’s and silver in the women’s 4x100m relays at the IAAF World Championships in London last summer, the Futures Sprint Relays Programme aims to build on that success and support the next batch of potential British Olympic sprinters.

The weekend’s camp brought together 16 of the country’s rising sprint stars for a series of track sessions, psychology and team building activities and an insight into the journeys of World Class Programme athletes Danny Talbot and Daryll Neita.

The Programme specifically targets under-20 athletes and aims to provide the opportunity to support, equip and educate athletes with the necessary skills, behaviours and abilities to enable them to be in medal contention for major age group internationals and to transition on to become successful seniors in the future.

Athletes worked closely with coaches, Leon Baptiste and Laura Turner-Alleyne, at the camp in Loughborough focusing on starts, changeovers and techniques while the psychology and team building sessions homed in on what they wanted to achieve as a group.

Performance Pathway Manager, Dan Wagner, said: “The aim of the pathway programme is to work with athletes and personal coaches around key skills, behaviours and attributes we expect of the relay team, to make the transition onto the World Class Programme as easy as possible and to clearly define the journey to being a medal winning senior athlete. The camps work in conjunction with personal coaches to support the athletes and compliment what they are already doing at a club level.”

Over the course of the year, athletes and coaches will be invited to attend sessions at the NPI in Loughborough where they will be supported by the British Athletics performance support team and coaches.

Coach Turner-Alleyne worked with the athletes at the weekend and stressed the importance of the Futures 4x100m Sprint Relays Programme camps for their development moving forward.

She said: “Both myself and Leon can pass on the experience that we have, but all of these guys need to go out and compete in the relay teams to get a feeling of exactly what’s required for the event. Our aim is to help all the athletes develop to a level where they can step into the senior team at a moment’s notice.”

Jona Efoloko, who competes predominantly in the 200m individually, was one of those selected for the camp and feels it is integral to the British team’s medal strategy and to his own personal development.

He said: “The camps are going to be really important to us all, we’re all from different parts of the country so it’s important we’ve got a central location. Last season was a good one for me but I know I need work on my 100m this season and the relay camps will really help to do that, as well other aspects of my overall performance.

“The psychological aspect of the camps is incredibly important. Practical skills are useful but the psychology session was incredibly beneficial because all athletes need to be in the right frame of mind mentally for competitions.”