Elite squad unveiled for Glasgow Games bid

Published on Wednesday 30 March 2011 16:23

Scottish Athletics has set up a new National Elite squad in a bid to boost their hopes of medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

An initial 40-strong group has been pulled together including Olympians Lee McConnell, Steph Twell and Andrew Lemoncello, as well as European Championship finalist Eilidh Child.

The athletes, and their coaches, will receive extra backing from the Scottish Institute of Sport as well as financial assistance.

"The support that we can directly offer to athletes and their coaches is highly significant," scottishathletics Acting Head Coach Steve Rippon said. "We have 40 athletes who currently meet the matrix standards, but there are also a great many younger athletes getting close - and I hope that during the coming summer, we have many others that exceed the standards and can be considered for this level of support in 2012."

The governing body currently provides cash assistance to a number of athletes, including Child, who have yet to earn high performance contracts from UK Athletics. There was criticism from recently departed national coach Laurier Primeau at the poor showing of several funded competitors at last year's Commonwealth Games in India. And the new Scottish programme will be results-based with an annual evaluation at the end of the season.

The initial elite group includes rising young prospects Matt Graham, Guy Learmonth and Beth Potter. However, Derek Hawkins, the sole Scot in the senior Great Britain team at this month's world cross country championship, is a surprise omission.

"We are delighted to be delivering this level of support," Institute of Sport chief Mike Whittingham said. "The medal and finalist potential from Scottish athletes is significant for Glasgow 2014,"