Wednesday 2 November 2016 13:56, UK
Christine Ohuruogu is one of several leading athletes to have had their National Lottery funding cut for the 2017 season.
The 32-year-old, a former Olympic and two-time world champion over 400m, has been downgraded from top-level podium funding to relay funding.
Injury-plagued former 400m hurdler world champion Dai Greene and James Dasaolu, Britain's second fastest man ever over 100m, have both been stripped of their funding completely, British Athletics revealed on Wednesday when it released the athletes selected on its world-class performance programmes (WCPP) for 2016-17.
The total number of Olympic athletes on podium funding has dropped from 21 to 15 ahead of next year's World Championships in London, with the retired Jessica Ennis-Hill, sprint hurdlers Andy Pozzi and William Sharman, 1500m runner Laura Weightman and 800m runner Andrew Osagie joining Greene and Ohurougu in dropping off the list.
American-born 100m hurdler Cindy Ofili has been awarded top-level funding after finishing fourth at the Rio Olympics.
Pozzi remains on the WCPP, but has been relegated to the lower-level podium potential funding.
We are now at the start of a new Olympic and Paralympic cycle, so we need to build a team that is focused towards...Tokyo 2020
Dasaolu, who has not progressed since running 9.91 seconds three years ago, dropped to relay funding last year and, despite being part of the squad which won gold at the European Championships in July, has now gone from the programme completely, indicating he is no longer in Great Britain's sprint relay plans.
The 29-year-old has paid the price for a poor season in which he could only make the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics and was then dropped from the team for the 4x100m relay final.
Ohuruogu failed to qualify for the 400m final in Rio, although she did help the relay team win bronze, while Greene won the world title in 2011, but has struggled with injury since, racing just twice this year.
British Athletics performance director Neil Black said: "2016 was an excellent year for the British Athletics teams at both the Olympics and Paralympics, winning more medals in Rio than in London 2012.
"But we are now at the start of a new Olympic and Paralympic cycle, so we need to build a team that is focused towards further success and improvement at Tokyo 2020 - our selections reflect this.
"With a core group of established athletes and a large group of young and emerging talent, this is an exciting time for British Athletics.
"As ever, the athletes selected will be expected to fulfil tough performance criteria throughout the next cycle, but our immediate focus is firmly on winning medals at London 2017 next year."
British Athletics' WCPP is funded by the Lottery through UK Sport, with selection based upon the potential to win medals at an Olympics or Paralympics.
In addition to the 15 athletes on the Olympic podium programme, there are 23 on the Paralympic one.
Twenty-nine athletes are included on the Olympic podium potential programme, with 24 joining the Paralympic equivalent. A further 27 athletes are funded as part of the relay squads.
