4 December 2013

British Athletics has today confirmed the appointment of Toni Minichiello as Athlete Based Support coach, in a role that has seen him rejoin the National Governing Body as of 1 December.

The coach of Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill will be employed to focus on his coaching role under the British Athletics World Class Performance Programme.

Minichiello, 2012 Sports Coach UK Coach of the Year, will work closely with British Athletics performance staff to bring further medal success for Ennis-Hill. The pair will remain supported at their Sheffield base, and will also access support services from the National Performance Institute at Loughborough.

Minichiello said: “In the year since leaving British Athletics I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with a number of other sports governing bodies and businesses as well as working with Jessica.

“This has provided some fantastic experiences and learning opportunities – to the extent that I will continue with these activities. That said I’ve come to realise that my defining passion lies with athletics and my personal drive to be the best athletics coach I can be.

“I was pleased to be offered the opportunity to rejoin the British Athletics performance team, it offers the perfect opportunity for me to fulfil this ambition with like minded colleagues whilst putting back into the sport.”   

British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black welcomed Toni back to his performance team saying:

“I am delighted Toni has reconsidered and will now join our team as one of our consultant coaches. Our job is to ensure that Jessica Ennis-Hill gets everything she needs to continue to be the best in the world. Toni is absolutely central to that and the whole system works better for him, for Jessica and for British Athletics when we are all part of the same team.

“It is vital that British Athletics invests in its top coaching talent like Toni, helping them move from one generation of athletes to the next, from a single event/single athlete focus to multiple athlete and event focus, adding value across the whole elite programme.”