Christian Sean Malcolm (born 3 June 1979) is a retired

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specialised in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. In 2020 he was appointed Head Coach of the British Athletics Olympic Programme.

Early life

Malcolm was born and was brought up in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

, where he still lives. He is of Jamaican descent. When Malcolm was 15 years old, he was offered a contract by English football club Nottingham Forest, having had trials earlier with them and Queens Park Rangers as a young forward. In a 1998 interview, Malcolm claimed he chose athletics as in his view it is a "friendlier sport and you're not as likely to get kicked around the pitch".

Education

Malcolm was educated at two state schools in Newport: Eveswell Primary School and Hartridge High School.

Life and career

Malcolm won the title of World Junior Athlete of the Year in 1998 and at the

1998 World Junior Championships 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, he won the 100m in 10.12 seconds and the 200m in 20.44 seconds, becoming the second sprinter to achieve this double at the Junior Worlds, after

Ato Boldon Ato Jabari Boldon (born 30 December 1973) is a Trinidadian former track and field athlete, politician, and four-time Olympic medal winner. He holds the Trinidad and Tobago national record in the 50, 60 and 200 metres events with times of 5.64, ...

. His winning time in the 100m set a new Welsh senior and British junior record, and his winning margin of 0.22 seconds was the largest in the history of the 100m at the Junior Worlds at the time. At that year's

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 British Empire Game ...

, his 20.29 for the silver medal was a European Junior and Welsh senior record. Malcolm took the 2000 European Indoor gold medal in 20.54, for a Welsh Indoor record. Outdoors he led off for the sprint relay team on the first day and ran a season's best of 20.45 to win the 200m on the second day at the European Cup. He went on to 2nd at the AAAs and to excel at the 2000 Olympics to take fifth place at 200m in 20.23. In 2001, Malcolm took the World Indoor silver medal. Outdoors he was 3rd at 100m and 2nd at 200m at the AAAs and at the World Championships ran eight races to make the finals at both 100m and 200m, finishing 6th and 5th respectively. He also competed as part of the relay team, however, the baton was dropped in the heats. He set two new Welsh records at the Worlds, clocking 10.11 in the 100m final and 20.08 in the semi-finals of the 200m. The 200m final was one of the closest finishes in a major sprint event in history, with Malcolm's final time of 20.22 being just two hundredths of a second down on second, third and fourth placed athletes Christopher Williams, Shawn Crawford and

Kim Collins Kim Collins (born 5 April 1976) is a former track and field sprinter from Saint Kitts and Nevis. In 2003, he became the World Champion in the 100 metres. He represented his country at the Summer Olympics on five occasions, from 1996 to 2016, an ...

. After four-second places at the AAAs, Malcolm finally won the 200m in 2005 in a narrow decision over Marlon Devonish and was also 3rd at 100m. He surprised even himself with a brilliant win at the European Cup in 20.15, his best time for five years. Malcolm represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed at the

and placed second in his first round heat after

Brian Dzingai Brian Dzingai (born 29 April 1981) is a former Zimbabwean Olympic sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres

in a time of 20.42 seconds. He improved his time in the second round to 20.30 seconds and placed fourth in his race, normally not enough to advance to the semi-finals, but his time was among the four fastest losing times and he qualified after all. With 20.25 in his semi-final race he even managed to qualify for the final, finishing fourth in his race, eliminating Paul Hession and Christopher Williams. In the final he came in seventh at 20.40 seconds, but as a result of the disqualifications of Churandy Martina (second) and Wallace Spearmon (third) he moved up to the fifth place overall. At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

in Delhi, Malcolm, representing Wales, was one of the favourites to win the men's 200m, and took the bronze medal. Malcolm retired from competition in 2014 after failing to be selected to the Welsh team for that year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow due to injury. He competed at four Commonwealth Games in total, sharing the record for most appearances at the Games by a Welsh track and field athlete with Ron Jones,

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

Colin Jackson Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became wo ...

and Berwyn Price. He also appeared at four Olympics, and shares the record for most appearances by a Welsh track and field athlete at the Olympics with Jackson. In addition Malcolm won nine senior sprint titles at the Welsh national championships. After retirement, he became a non-executive director of Welsh Athletics, and subsequently served as British Athletics' technical lead for sprint relays from 2015 to 2019, and guided the GB men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as " women's rights" to denote female humans rega ...

4x100m relay squads to a gold and a silver medal respectively at the 2017 World Athletics Championships on home ground in London, an achievement for which he was jointly awarded that year's BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award alongside colleagues Stephen Maguire and Benke Blomkvist. He also served as a performance coach with the Federation of Disability Sport Wales for three years, coaching

Jordan Howe Jordan Howe (born 12 October 1995) is a Paralympian Track and field, athlete from Wales competing in category T35 sprinting events. Howe qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the 100 m and 200 m sprint. History Howe was born in ...

to a silver medal in the T35 100m and guiding Rhys Jones to a career-best fourth in the T37 100m at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, also held in London. In January 2019 he joined

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registere ...

as Head of Performance and Coaching. On 3 September 2020, British Athletics announced that Malcolm had been appointed Head Coach of the British Athletics Olympic Programme.

International competitions

¹Representing Europe
²Did not finish in the final

References

External links