A host of big name British athletes have lost their Lottery funding for the 2014 season, but the Tayside trio of Eilidh Child, Eilish McColgan and Laura Muir are on the UK Athletics programme.
Lisa Dobriskey and Jenny Meadows, who won 1500 metres silver and 800m bronze respectively at the 2009 World Championships, and Andy Turner, the 2011 world 110m hurdles bronze medallist, are among the leading names to have been dropped from the World Class Performance Programme under the strict new guidelines set down by UK Sport.
Yamile Aldama, the 41-year-old Cuba-born triple jumper who won world indoor gold last year, has also left the programme, along with Phillips Idowu, whose removal was a foregone conclusion following his decision to take an indefinite break from athletics.
UK Sport, the body which distributes the funding, has narrowed its criteria, meaning only athletes considered realistic medal contenders for the Rio 2016 Olympics are eligible for podium funding. Previously the emphasis had been on the likelihood of making a final.
The result is a smaller crop of 22 athletes on top-level funding, plus 16 on relay funding. The 44 younger athletes on the lower-level podium potential support had to have proved their potential to win a medal in Tokyo in 2020.
In addition, there are 25 Paralympic athletes on podium funding, plus two on relay support, and 23 on podium potential.
Hurdler Child has made the podium category as part of the 4x400m relay squad, while steeplechaser McColgan and middle-distance runner Muir are in the podium potential category.
All three represented Britain at the last World Championships in Russia. Other senior Great Britain team members to lose their funding include Christian Malcolm (200m), Jo Pavey (5,000m/10,000m) and Goldie Sayers (javelin).
Meadows (32) was ruled out of her second successive season in 2013 after suffering a stress fracture to her femur, which followed the long-term Achilles injury which dashed her Olympic hopes.
Dobriskey, 29, and Turner, 32, both endured injury-plagued seasons. The major winners from the announcement are the women’s 4x100m relay squad, who are back on funding after their shock bronze medal at the World Championships in Moscow.
A year earlier they did not even manage to qualify a team for the London Olympics.
The quartet who claimed a dramatic medal in Russia, Dina Asher-Smith, Hayley Jones, Annabelle Lewis and Ashleigh Nelson, are all on the programme as part of the relay squad, along with Anyika Onuora.
UKA performance director Neil Black said: “Our immediate focus is firmly on medals in 2016, followed by London 2017 when we will host both the IAAF and IPC World Athletics Championships. From there attention shifts to Tokyo 2020. Our WCPP selections absolutely reflect that focus.
“2013 was an excellent year for the British team across both the Olympic and Paralympic programmes. And once again I am confident 2014 will bring further success in what will be another extremely busy indoor and outdoor season.
“The support from the National Lottery via UK Sport enables our athletes to work with the best coaches and support staff and prepare at the best facilities and training camps to ensure they perform to the highest achievable standards.”
On the Paralympic front, wheelchair racer Shelly Woods, who won marathon silver at London 2012, has been dropped from the programme. The 27-year-old from Blackpool is a three-time Paralympic medallist.
She Tweeted: “Very disappointed to hear @BritAthletics have decided not to fund me on the uk-sport world class performance programme. #nothappy.”
Four-time London 2012 champion David Weir, who is yet to definitively say whether he plans to compete in Rio, is on the programme.
Sophie Hahn, 16, who won gold in the women’s T38 100m final at the IPC World Championships in Lyon this summer, is funded for the first time.