Sara Symington appointed as new British Athletics performance director ahead of Olympics in 2021

Sara Symington enjoyed strong success as performance director at England Netball
Getty Images for England Netball
George Flood20 August 2020

Sara Symington has been named as the new performance director for British Athletics.

With the rescheduled 2020 Games in Tokyo now less than a year away, Symington will be responsible for "successfully delivering the UK Sport-funded Olympic and Paralympic World Class Programmes."

The new performance director is a former professional cyclist and previously competed for Team GB at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.

After retiring from cycling, Symington worked as a performance advisor at UK Sport before undertaking successful stints as performance director at both Archery GB and most recently England Netball.

“I am delighted to join British Athletics at this juncture in its journey," said Symington, who will also now form part of the selection panel to find an Olympic head coach for British Athletics.

"On a professional level I’m looking forward to sharing some of my experiences whilst learning from others within this great sport, including all the staff, athletes, coaches, stakeholders and partners as to how the sport moves forward but ultimately strives for future success on the world stage.

I’m an athlete at heart who moved into leadership roles but my overriding ambition has always been about creating an environment where our athletes and staff thrive and deliver continued success both individually and collectively.”