British Athletics begin preparations for 2024 Olympics with 18 months to go!

British Athletics have commenced their preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympics by naming athletes that will receive United Kingdom Sport National Lottery funding for the 2023.

A total of 66 athletes have been nominated and British Athletics say they have been so nominated because they have ‘realistic potential and demonstrable performance capability and capacity to make the necessary progress to achieve a medal at least in one of the next two Olympic Games’.

The aim of the funding, according to British Athletics is to help the selected athletes ahead of the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, the 2024 European Championships and Olympics.

The four Olympic individual medallists from Tokyo 2020 – Keely Hodgkinson, Laura Muir, Josh Kerr and Holly Bradshaw – top the list of athletes selected in the ‘podium’ category.

So also are the duo Dina Asher-Smith and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who both suffered heartbreaking injuries in the Japanese capital, are also nominated.

Podium level category means athletes who can make it to the podium in Paris and a total of 14 athletes have been selected.

The second category are those who have the potential to make it to the podium and 23 athletes have been selected here to receive funding.

The others are those who are capable of making the relay teams (17) and 18 at ‘confirmation’ level.