Paris Olympics Dream Pushes Track And Field Stars To Announce Biggest Update Of The Year

Paris Olympics is getting nearer as time passes by and the track and field athletes are girding up with every aspect of their practice. From sharpening their skills to honing the other avenues of their training regimen, they have covered everything to bring a positive change in their performance. Multiple athletes have taken the decision to change coaches as they look forward to attaining new skills and patterns for the upcoming event.

The preparation for the Paris Olympics makes it seem like it is going to be a blast. With so many athletes like Dana Asher-Smith, and Fred Kerley, taking such a big decision of changing their coaches signals a major turnaround in their regimen. With just 8 months left for the Olympics to begin, the track and field community is on their toes to witness the result of these changes in the athletes’ performances during the event.

Coach changes of track and field athletes before Paris 2024

With the Olympics 2024 just 8 months away, the sports community is full-fledged working on their skills. To make it better and after throwing light upon some of the growth factors, multiple track athletes have taken the decision to change their coaches to adopt new styles in the sports they excel in. One of the athletes to leave their coach is the British Olympian, Dana Asher-Smith.

After winning the bronze medal at Tokyo Games 2020, this track athlete is facing a rough time which is why she opted for another coach before Paris 2024. She left her coach John Blackie after 19 years and has decided to head toward Texas to get in touch with Edrick Floreal for getting assistance for the upcoming event.

After Asher-Smith announced the split with her coach, another athlete who stood up to make this major career change was Kristal Awuah who took the step of leaving her coach to attain the accomplishments she has wished for a long time. She took the decision of shifting under the guidance of Linford Christie who is based in London.

Another athlete who opted to change her coach just before the arrival of the Olympics 2024 was Alana Reid. She is currently the under-20 200-meter bronze medalist who will now be training from the same mentor as Sha’Carri Richardson‘s. Reid will now seek guidance from Dennis Mitchell who is a part of a renowned track club. With Reid, Melissa Jefferson also chose to go under the guidance of Dennis Mitchell.

One of the most renowned names in the track and field arena, the two-time Olympic Games sprint champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah also shifted under Shanikie Osbourne to attain the best guidance for her extra-ordinary performance in the Olympics 2024.

Another renowned named Fred Kerley, who is in the process of regaining his old form in full action has also taken the major decision of changing his coach. His mindset is focused on getting the form back that he portrayed in the 2020 Tokyo Games. After this, he gave some more staunch performances at multiple events but felt that he needed some more polishing. He shifted to Quincy Watts, who is the present director of Track and Field at the University of Southern California. With Kerley, another athlete who shifted to Watts is Micheal Norman.

After this, another athlete apart from Reid and Jefferson, who shifted to Dennis Mitchell is Marvin Bracy. 2023 was a difficult year for him professionally, he himself admitted that this wasn’t his best season, which is why he is focusing on doing his best in the coming year. This aspiration pushed him to change agents and coach.

Other renowned track athletes who went through major career change 

Almost 20 track and field athletes has changed their coaches this season and each one of them have their own aspiration of attaining a goal in the Olympics 2024. The track entity Marcell Jacobs leaving his old coach shifted to Rana Reider. He moved from Italy to Florida to take the guidance of Reider in Jacksonville.

Along with Jacobs, another athlete who shifted to Reider is the Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse. Reider helped him win gold in Tokyo 2021. He announced a split with his Irish Coach John Coghlan to work under Reider who coached him from 2018 to 2022. Another athlete who parted ways with his coach is Kenya’s sprinting icon Ferdinand Omanyala who split his ways with Duncan Ayiemba who has been with him since 2015. He shifted to his new coach Geoffrey Kimani.

This does not end here. To push themselves near their Olympic goals, some of the other athletes that parted ways with their coaches and went under the guidance of a new one are Nia Ali and multiple others. Ali with De Grasse shifted under the guidance of Rana Reider. Next is the British Hurdling athlete Andrew Pozzi who left his previous coach Malcolm Arnold and went under the guidance of Olympic silver medalist Colin Jackson.

With this, Omar McLeod, the Olympic champion, announced the change of his coach for the seventh time shifted to Marco Yairale. After this is the US distance athlete Brandon Miller who shifted under the guidance of Danny Mackey. The American record holder Grant Fisher, on the other hand, parted ways with his previous coach Jerry Schumacher and shifted to a new trainer.

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Apart from them, the twin American track and field athletes Laviai Nielsen with her expertise in sprinting, and Lina Nielsen with her expertise in hurdles shifted under the assistance of Tony Lester in Denmark. With Reid, Jefferson, and Bracy, another athlete to accompany Sha’Carri Richardson while training is Kayla White who also shifted under Dennis Mitchell. With this, all the athletes are in full action to give their best in the upcoming Olympic games and the entire track and field community is on their toes to witness the terrific performances.

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