British Judo Announce WCPP Judoka for 2017-2018

The British Judo Association, the national governing body for British Judo, has today (Monday 11 December) announced the Olympic and Paralympic athletes selected for its World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) for 2017 – 2018.

Funded by the National Lottery through UK Sport, WCPP selection is based upon a set of criteria including potential to medal at future Olympic and Paralympic Games, results in the past year, and expected professional behaviours of an Elite athlete.

For 2017 – 2018, four athletes will be supported through the Olympic and Paralympic Podium programmes.  There will also be 20 Olympic and Paralympic athletes on the respective Podium Potential programmes. All Podium and Podium Potential athletics receive an Athlete Performance Award (APA) to support their Judo programme.

In addition to this, five athletes are being offered support in the British Judo Academy Programme which is funded directly by British Judo. This provides a stepping stone from the Home Nations programme with the goal to transfer them onto the Podium or Podium Potential Programmes within 18 – 24 months.

All athletes from Podium to Academy receive a Coach led Individual Athlete Plan (IAP) with agreed training and competition goals, BOA Medical insurance and are supported by a comprehensive Sports Science and Sports Medicine programme and services.

Athletes exiting off the WCPP will receive transitional APA support as well as identified programme support for a period of time, which is based on the number of years they have been a member of the British Judo World Class Performance Programme.

Nigel Donohue, British Judo Performance Director, said: “Following on from Rio, the first year in the Tokyo cycle has been extremely positive with significant performances and results at Milestone Targeted events, the Senior World Championships and IBSA European Championships, where Nekoda Davis and Natalie Powell won Bronze – our first World Championships medals since 2010 and Chris Skelley became IBSA European Champion.”

“Additionally, our Junior programme has continued to consistently develop athletes within the system. We medalled in our 5th consecutive Junior European Championships and our 3rd consecutive Junior World Championships, which bodes well for our programme as we focus on Tokyo 2020, but also continue to plan and prepare ahead for Paris 2024.

“I cannot thank enough the work of our Coaches and Sports Science and Medicine team who strive to deliver the best that any athlete could wish for on a day-to-day basis and most importantly, the athletes, who work as hard as they possibly can to ensure that they continue to develop as athletes and people to achieve their annual goals.

“I’d like to thank the British Judo community for their continued support of the athletes and the programme. 2018 will be a stronger year and I have every confidence in the athletes and the programme that we will continue to build on this year’s success as we prepare for Tokyo 2020.”

Athletes on British Judo WCPP 2017 – 2018

PODIUM (4)

Olympic

PODIUM POTENTIAL (20)

Olympic

Paralympic

ACADEMY (5)