Malcolm was a sprinter for the Welsh team. In his time as an athlete he participated in national and international games and won many medals.
1979
Newport, Wales
Jamaican and British
1998 – he won the title of World Junior Athlete
2000 -he won the European Indoor gold medal
2000 – he took fifth place in the Olympic Games in the 200m
2001 – he won the World Indoor silver medal 2001 – he was third at the AAAs 2001 – he was second in the World Championship
2010 -he won a silver medal in the European Championship for the 200m race
2017 – he guided the GB Men and Women 4 x 100 team to a gold and silver medal
2017 – he won BBC Sport Personality of the Year Coach Award
Malcolm was brought up and educated in Newport. He was offered a contract by Nottingham Forest, but refused. He has said he chose athletics because “it is a friendlier sport”.
Malcolm started his sporting career in football at the age of eight, and his athletics career started at 17 years. In 1998, Malcolm won the 100m in 10.12 seconds and the 200m in 20.44 seconds, and became the second sprinter to achieve this at the Junior Worlds. This started his sprinting career at its peak, as he set a new Welsh senior record and British junior record. He also set another record in the 1998 Commonwealth Games, where he got the European junior and Welsh senior record with a time of 20.99 seconds,.
In 2001, he ran eight races at the World Championship to make the finals. He set two new Welsh records at the World Championships in his 100m finals and 200m semifinals.
He represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics. He qualified for his semifinals and then his finals where he finished in seventh position, however there were some disqualifications, so he moved up to the fifth position.
In 2014, he ran his final race with the Welsh 4 x 100 relay team. He received a standing ovation, and it was an emotional time.
After Malcolm retired, he became non-executive director of Welsh Athletics and later joined British Athletics as their technical lead for sprint relays. He joined Athletics Australia as head of performance and coaching. In 2020, he joined British Athletics again but as the Head Coach of the Olympic programme. He has been called ‘ the Pep Guardiola of British Athletics’ which shows his savvy knowledge in coaching.
Christian Malcolm is married to Carly Issacs and has a daughter named Seanna Malcolm.
Christian Malcolm: Back to basics, (Olympics) https://olympics.com/en/news/christian-malcolm-back-to-basics [accessed 4th March 2022].
Alex Spink, ‘Christian Malcolm wins race to be new British Athletics head coach and hails ‘new start’ for troubled sport’, https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/athletics/christian-malcolm-wins-race-new-22622061 [accessed 4th March 2022].
John Philips, ‘Welsh athletics star Christian Malcolm weds girlfriend at 18th century castle’ https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11790143.welsh-athletics-star-christian-malcolm-weds-girlfriend-at-18th-century-castle/ [accessed 4th March 2022].
Welsh Athletics, ‘Christian Malcolm’, https://www.welshathletics.org/en/page/christian-malcolm [accessed 4th March 2022].
Christian Malcolm Sports Academy, ‘Christian Malcolm’, http://christianmalcolm.co.uk/about-cmsa/ [accessed 4th March 2022].
