14 January 2013

 Malcolm Arnold has been appointed to the role of Lead Hurdles Coach based at Bath University in the latest coaching appointment by Performance Director Neil Black and Head Coach Peter Eriksson. James Hillier has also been named as Assistant Coach and the pair will continue to work with their training group, which includes World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene. 

Arnold, who coached former 110m hurdles world record holder Colin Jackson to three World titles and an Olympic silver medal, is excited by the opportunity of building on what he has already achieved in a coaching career spanning over four decades.

“I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to continue the work we have done over recent years. Both James and I are looking forward to new challenges under the leadership of Neil Black and Peter Eriksson and to furthering the excellence of hurdling in both competitors and coaches throughout the UK.”

As well as former European and Commonwealth champion Greene, Arnold’s group contains a number of top international hurdlers such as Lawrence Clarke, who came fourth in the 110m hurdles at last summer’s Olympic Games, 2011 European Junior silver medallist Andrew Pozzi, 2011 European under-23 silver medallist Nathan Woodward and London Olympians Jack Green and Eilidh Child.

The UKA Regional Centre at Bath was the first established in 1999 under Arnold’s leadership. Since then more than forty major medals have been won by athletes trained at Bath.

Appointed to the role of Assistant Coach, Hillier was previously a UKA Apprentice Coach working under Arnold and completed his apprenticeship in 2012. The former Commonwealth Games 400m hurdler is coach to 19 year old James Gladman, who finished fourth in the 110m hurdles at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona last summer.

UKA’s Olympic Head Coach Peter Eriksson believes that both Arnold and Hillier will play a key role in developing Great Britain’s best hurdles athletes in the build up to the next Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

“Malcolm and James have had excellent success with their training group in Bath and it is great that they will have the chance to continue their work as we look to build on what we achieved in 2012 and have more success over the next Olympic cycle leading up to Rio in 2016 and beyond.”

 “Malcolm has fantastic experience and I’m sure all of the athletes he works with will benefit from his vast knowledge in the coming years. James has also proven himself to be a very talented coach and I look forward to continuing to work both him and Malcolm moving forwards.”