Jan 29, 2009 British Triathlon are delighted to announce that Heather Williams
has been appointed as the organization's Performance Director.
After a world wide search to find a leading international coach with a proven track record of success, Canadian Joel Filliol has been appointed as the new Head Coach and will provide support to athletes and coaches identified in the Olympic Podium and Academy Squads to convert them into medal winners.
Filliol is one of the world’s most experienced and successful triathlon individuals having been involved in the sport since 1989, both as an athlete and a coach. He has worked for Triathlon Canada since the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was their Senior High Performance Coach during the 2008 Olympiad. He was also the personal coach of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games silver medalist Simon Whitfield.
Joe Filliol commented:
“I am so excited to be taking on the new
head coach role with British Triathlon. Heather Williams and her team
have done an outstanding job building the foundation for future
international success, and I look forward to leading the coaches and
athletes toward delivering medals for Team GB. My first few months will
be spent observing, talking with coaches and athletes, and developing
the plan to get the right results in 2012.
“The standard of International Triathlon has never been higher and is continually improving. Winning medals at London 2012 will be tougher than at any previous Games. However there is no greater incentive than a home Games, it is up to our team to meet that challenge and ensure British athletes enjoy a hugely successful London 2012.”
Former Sports Science and Technical Manager Mark Pearce has been named as Performance Manager, providing direction and support on the physiological and technical demands of elite triathlon to both athletes and coaches involved with the British Triathlon Performance Programme.
This group of three provides the nucleus of British Triathlon’s ambition for success at the 2012 Olympic Games and will drive the top end of the Performance Programme.
Former Great Britain ski international Simon Mills will be joining the British Triathlon Performance team shortly as Performance Development Manager. Simon was a member of the GB ski team between 1988 and 1992 before moving into a career in coaching and sports administration. For the past eight years he has lived in New Zealand where he is the current General Manager of Ski New Zealand which encompasses the roles of CEO and Performance Director. Simon’s key role will be to create an infrastructure to identify, nurture and develop the next generation of Olympic athletes as British Triathlon looks to continue its production of successful youth and junior athletes.
New Zealand triathlon Olympian, Ben Bright, remains as Head Coach for Talent Development and will work alongside Simon to provide the technical direction on the coaching, training, competition and lifestyle programmes of the talent identification, confirmation and development programme.
“Joel and Simon bring a wealth of additional expertise and experience and I am confident that we have the right structure and the right team of people to turn our Olympic dreams into a reality,” said Williams.