Jessica Ennis-Hill’s coach Toni Minichiello has returned to the British Athletics fold one year after losing his job as Olympic coach.
Despite being a key figure in Ennis-Hill’s gold medal triumph in the heptathlon at London 2012, Minichiello became the highest profile casualty of the restructuring plan around a single High Performance Institute in Loughborough.
The problem centred on the duo’s reluctance to relocate from from Ennis-Hill’s hometown of Sheffield, and because Minichiello had no Olympic or world medallists in his training group he was not offered the chance to continue to work with her there on a full-time salary.
But Minichiello, who has continued to work with his star protege in the intervening months, has returned to British Athletics as an athlete based support coach.
“In the year since leaving British Athletics I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to work with a number of other sports governing bodies and businesses as well as working with Jessica,” said Minichiello, who was named 2012 UK Coach of the Year
“This has provided some fantastic experiences and learning opportunities to the extent that I will continue with these activities.
“That said I’ve come to realise that my defining passion lies with athletics and my personal drive to be the best athletics coach I can be.”
British Athletics has confirmed Minichiello and Ennis-Hill will remain at their Sheffield base.
British Athletics performance director Neil Black added: “Our job is to ensure that Jessica Ennis-Hill gets everything she needs to continue to be the best in the world.”