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 peop ...

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 events ...

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, 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 Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, having had trials earlier with them and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

as a young

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. 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 Llanwern High School is a secondary school on the eastern edge of Newport, Wales. The school has a capacity for 1450 pupils. History Previously known as Hartridge High School, it changed its name in 2012 to Llanwern High School, recruited a ne ...

Life and career

Malcolm won the title of World Junior Athlete of the Year in 1998 and at the 1998 World Junior Championships, 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. 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, and, with the exce ...

, 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 The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

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 Shawn Crawford (born January 14, 1978) is a retired American sprint athlete. He competed in the 100 meters and 200 meters events. In the 200 meter sprint, Crawford won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics and silver at the 2008 Summer Olym ...

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, a ...

. After four-second places at the AAAs, Malcolm finally won the 200m in 2005 in a narrow decision over

Marlon Devonish Marlon Ronald Devonish, (born 1 June 1976) is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres and 200 metres. A prodigious relay runner with particular strength as a 'bend' runner, Devonish ran the third leg for the Great Britain q ...

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 Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was offici ...

in Beijing. He competed at the

and placed second in his first round heat after Brian Dzingai 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 Paul Hession (born 27 January 1983 in Galway) is an Irish international track and field athlete who is the fastest Irishman in history over 200 metres. He specialises in the sprinting events, particularly the 200 metres. He has won silver and br ...

and Christopher Williams. In the final he came in seventh at 20.40 seconds, but as a result of the disqualifications of

Churandy Martina Churandy Thomas Martina (born 3 July 1984) is a Dutch sprinter from Curaçao, currently representing the Netherlands. Previously, he represented the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010. His personal best time over 100 metres ...

(second) and

Wallace Spearmon Wallace Spearmon Jr. (born December 24, 1984, in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America, USA) is a retired American Sprint (running), sprint Track and field, athlete, who specializes in the 200 metres, 200 meters. He is a two-time NCAA ...

(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,

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 Berwyn Price (born 15 August 1951) is a former Welsh international athlete. Price was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, and studied at Lewis School, Pengam Welsh Athletics Welsh Athletics (WA; cy, Athletau Cymru) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Wales. It was set up as a limited company in 2007, replacing the former Athletic Association of Wales. Welsh Athletics is part of UK Athletics, the natio ...

, and subsequently served as

British Athletics UK Athletics (UKA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics (sport), athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics o ...

' 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 regardl ...

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 The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the coach who was considered to have made the most substantive contribut ...

alongside colleagues Stephen Maguire and Benke Blomkvist. He also served as a performance coach with the

Federation of Disability Sport Wales The Federation of Disability Sport Wales ( cy, Chwaraeon Anabledd Cymru) is the national pan-disability governing body of sports organisations that provides local sporting and physical activity opportunities to disabled people in Wales. The Fede ...

for three years, coaching Jordan Howe 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 registered ...

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