Lottery funding has been transformational for British sport and UK Athletics is incredibly thankful to the British public and the National Lottery for supporting our athletes to prepare and compete at the Olympic and Paralympic games.  Given the many challenges we are all facing in life today, the continued support of sport in this country creates opportunity and magic moments that inspire the nation.   We are conscious of this responsibility and will continue to work hard to deliver this in the years ahead.

In the last couple of years, we have rebuilt athletics in the UK with our many partners and are very grateful to all of you.  Thanks must go to the athletes, the staff at UKA, the coaches, volunteers, clubs and home nations who are the backbone of our great sport – the most inclusive, dynamic and democratic in the Olympic and Paralympic movement.

We’d like to thank UK Sport for the increased investment in our Paralympic World Class Programme. The para athletics environment continues to grow and become increasingly competitive as more countries invest in para sport performance. This increase will help ensure GB & NI para athletes continue to receive the support towards global medals during the next cycle.

At the same time, we are disappointed we did not receive the settlement we were hoping for from UK Sport for the Olympic programme.  We felt the progress we have made in the last few years culminating in 10 medals in both the World Championships and the Olympics, not to mention the wholesale improvements in governance and our events and commercial model deserved a higher level of investment. Unfortunately, UK Sport could not be convinced of the merits of our case at this time.

Whilst our budgets will be tighter for the next four years, we shall keep building momentum and finding ways to support athletes to realise their potential at major championships.  We can assure our many great athletes, coaches and volunteers of our absolute commitment to support your aspirations to succeed in our sport.

Jack Buckner – CEO of UK Athletics