Sprint coach describes recent performances as "phenomenal"

Britain's leading sprint coach Lloyd Cowan believes the current crop of female sprinters is the best for 50 years and that the athletes have the potential to be world class, writes Simon Collings.

Ahead of this weekend's Sainsbury’s British Championships, much of the focus has been centred around the performances of male athletes such as Adam Gemili and James Dasaolu, who is now known to be giving the event a miss in the hope of regaining full fitness and proving his form at the Sainsbury's Glasgow Grand Prix next month as well as the Diamond League in Lausanne.

But Cowan, who is also the coach of world and Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu, admits that it is the upcoming female talent which has him excited.

"Their performances over the past three to four weeks have been phenomenal, I have never seen anything like it," said Cowan.

"To compare it you have to go back to the time of Kathy Cook and Sonia Lannaman, where the times were really consistent.

"We have got four girls under 23 seconds. That's never happened. We have had one or two before, but now we have a cluster.

"I have gone back and looked at the data and it has been a long, long time since we have had that.

Among the talented quartet of sprinters running under 23 seconds for 200m is Bianca Williams (pictured above, left), who is coached by Cowan and trains with London athletics club Enfield & Haringey.

Williams is seen as one of the favourites to claim glory at this weekend's British Championships, after running a personal best of 22.79 in Ostrava last week.

And Cowan (pictured above with Ohuruogu) believes that putting faith in the young group of female athletes is crucial to the success of British sprinting.

"The likes of Asha Philip, Jodie (Williams), Bianca (Williams) and Dina Asher-Smith are going to move the sport forward in the next three to four years," Cowan added.

"They are the ones that are going to carry the torch going forward.

"In two years, it should be their time to shine because they are that close to being world class sprinters."

» Lloyd Cowan was speaking at the launch of Gillette’s Great Start programme, which celebrates the role of coaching and encourages people to get into coaching by offering grants. To apply for a grant, visit facebook.com/GilletteUK by August 31, 2014.