UK Sport’s National Lottery backed World Class Performance Programme

Overview

The World Class Programme covers all funded summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, and operates at two distinct levels:

• Podium - supporting athletes with realistic medal winning capabilities at the next Olympic/Paralympic Games (i.e. a maximum of four years away from the podium)
• Podium Potential – these are athletes whose performances suggest that they have realistic medal winning capabilities at the subsequent Olympic and Paralympic Games (i.e. a maximum of eight years away from the podium)

Around 1,300 of the nation’s leading athletes at the Podium and Podium Potential levels currently benefit from UK Sport’s annual investment, with many more involved at the Performance Foundation level and supported by the Home Country Sports Councils. The Programme works by ensuring that athletes get the world class support – delivered through their sport’s national governing body – that they need at every stage of their development.

Programme Support

• World Class Coaches
• Sports science and medicine
• Warm weather training and acclimatisation
• International competition schedules
• Athlete development programmes
• Access to high performance training facilities

This support is typically worth around £36,000 - £60,000 per athlete per annum at the Podium level, and £23,000 - £40,000 per athlete at the Podium Potential level, depending on the sport.

Athlete Performance Awards

APAs serve to contribute to the athlete’s ordinary living costs and their personal sporting costs. APAs are allocated where there is the greatest ‘financial need’ and are subject to a means testing exercise. UK Sport has set a maximum income threshold of £65,000 (including their APA) above which an athlete's APA will begin to be deducted pound for pound.

The level of APA received is determined by a number of criteria, not least of which is the level of performance an athlete has achieved and is capable of producing in the future. While there are variances depending on the sport, three performance categories apply for ‘Podium’ level athletes:

Band A – Medallists at Olympic Games or Senior World Championships or gold medallists at Paralympic Games or Senior World Championships

Band B – a minimum of a top 8 finish at Olympic Games or Senior World Championships or medallists at Paralympic Games or Senior World Championships

Band C – Likely to be major championship performers and those who demonstrate the capacity to achieve a medal result at World or Olympic level within four years but flexibility given to individual sports to set their own criteria

Athletes on Podium level funding can currently receive APAs to the value of:

• Band A – up to £28,000 pa
• Band B - up to £21,500 pa