British Triathlon Appoints Mike Cavendish as National Performance Director
British Triathlon is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Cavendish as the new National Performance Director overseeing the successful Olympic and Paralympic programmes. Cavendish is currently the Deputy Performance Director at UK Athletics and will commence his new role on 1 September 2018.
Cavendish takes on the role from Brendan Purcell, who has moved to British Rowing having enjoyed five very successful years at British Triathlon.
Cavendish has been with UK Athletics for ten years, working closely with Performance Director, Neil Black, on the strategic delivery of the Olympic and Paralympic World Class Programmes.
As well as the operational delivery of all Olympic and Paralympic camps and major competitions, he has been the lead team manager for Olympics, Paralympics, Worlds and Europeans since 2011. He also chaired all major championships and World Class Programme selections and delivered the preparation strategies for major championships during one of athletics’ most successful eras.
He will join British Triathlon in time for the ITU World Championships on the Gold Coast in September. This is the focal point of the season for junior, U23 and senior athletes as well as the Paratriathlon squad, which has two defending world champions.
Cavendish, who comes from a physiology background, will lead the experienced coaching team, which includes Ben Bright and Jonathon Riall who are the Head Coaches of the Olympic and Paralympic programmes respectively.
Cavendish said: “I’m excited to be joining British Triathlon at such a key time for the sport in the approach to Tokyo. They have enjoyed a hugely successful period and I’m looking forward to being able to use my experience from athletics to build upon the successes over the last two cycles, as well as help bring through new talent.”
He added: “I’m really looking forward to getting started with an immensely talented group of athletes and staff.”
British Triathlon CEO, Andy Salmon, commented: “We’re delighted with the appointment of Mike Cavendish. His experience and energy made him an ideal candidate as we focus our attention towards Tokyo.”
He added: “We’re grateful to Brendan Purcell for everything he helped us achieve. He built a strong team of coaches and practitioners, whom I know are looking forward to working with Mike.”
With two years until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralypic Games, Cavendish will want to continue the momentum which brought three Olympic and four Paralympic medals in Rio. With the addition of Mixed Relay to the Olympic programme, there is now an additional medal opportunity.