Birmingham's Alexander Stadium to home "world class" facility to help athletes across the country
The new Performance and Innovation Centre will open next summer
UK athletics (UKA) has teamed up with Birmingham City Council to open a state-of-the-art Performance and Innovation Centre at the Alexander Stadium.
Designed for the primary use of UKA World Class Programme (WCP) athletes and coaches, these world class facilities will help to understand track and field performances through enhanced technology and analytics, which are currently not available to athletes in the UK.
Athletes and coaches visiting the centre will be able to deep-dive into their performance through access to diagnostic capabilities with specialist expertise.
Stephen Maguire, UKA Technical Director said: "Recently there has been discussions on how we can do more. The stadium here is tremendous so building a partnership with the top end of the sport is really important."
The Alexander Stadium was at the fore front of the Commonwealth Games, hosting the athletics as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. And this partnership ensures the legacy of the Commonwealth Games continues.
Leader of Birmingham City Council, Cllr Ian Ward, said: "It is great news that UKA are bringing this Performance and Innovation Centre to Birmingham, and confirms we are the heart of British athletics."
"We need to ensure that young people are inspired to take part in the sport and who knows maybe the city of Birmingham will produce a future Commonwealth Games medallist in athletics."