Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie have split from coach Andy Young after quitting a training camp in South Africa, UK Athletics has confirmed.
Both athletes returned to the UK to train at Loughborough following an apparent falling-out with Young and it has now been announced that they have split with the coach just 15 months before the Olympics – and five months before the World Championships in Budapest.
“UK Athletics (UKA) can confirm Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie have made the decision to part ways with their coach Andy Young,” a statement said.
“Both athletes would like to thank Andy for his commitment and support over the years.
“They are now focussed on making decisions around their support network and coaching set-up for the future and will not be making any further comment. UKA staff are continuing to support the athletes during this time.”
Following their return to the UK, Young told The Times “there was no bust-up” and that the athletes were concerned for Young’s own health, adding: “(They) felt I wasn’t looking after myself properly, maybe thought pressure was getting to me. I’d say they were reading too much into it.”
READ MORE: Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie reported to have split with coach Andy Young
Under Young, Muir has won Olympic 1500m silver, world 1500m bronze, two European Championships titles and five European Indoor crowns.
Reekie finished fourth in the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics and was fifth in the 800m at last year’s European Championships and in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games.
Young denied claims that an argument had led to a rift with Muir.
“There was no bust-up,” he said. “I think you would find the girls were worried about my health if you spoke to them. [They] felt I wasn’t looking after myself properly, maybe thought pressure was getting to me. I’d say they were reading too much into it.”
At The Herald we know the importance of reaching you where it's convenient, which is why we've engaged top sportswriter James Morgan to bring you an irreverent daily update on what's happening in the world of sport. Be it football, golf, rugby, cricket or something more exotic, James will tread where the best stories take him. To get this exclusive bespoke piece sent directly to your email inbox for free every day at 5pm, simply take a few seconds to type in your email here. It's that simple!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here