UK Athletics (UKA) has parted company with one of its most senior coaches a year after he was reported to be having a relationship with an Olympic athlete. Alan Storey, the performance manager for endurance events, has left “by mutual agreement” to pursue other interests. No replacement has been named.

Charles van Commenee does not take up the reins as UKA’s head coach until February, but he has wasted little time in cracking the whip. The Dutchman has now initiated a significant coaching change after cutting the number of athletes receiving lottery funding by 20 per cent.

UKA refused to give a reason for the exit of Storey, who has been a successful coach for two decades and led Sonia O’Sullivan to the Olympic podium in 2000, but his reported personal relationship with Kate Reed, the 10,000 metres runner, has not gone down well in all quarters. UKA’s code of conduct strongly recommends that coaches do not allow “intimate personal relationships to develop with athletes (coached or supervised by them) even if they are over the age of 18”.

Last year a Sunday tabloid newspaper led with the story, prompting an internal UKA investigation. Storey, now linked with a leading role at the Athletics Association of Ireland, denied the relationship at the time.

It is the latest step in Van Commenee’s revamp of elite athletics. His funding decisions have been questioned already, with Andy Turner, one of the top 15 in the world at 110 metres hurdles last year, writing a letter to UKA asking why he has been taken off the lottery list.

UKA refused to elaborate on Storey’s departure, but with Van Commenee having said there was “no room for sentiment” when it came to funding, the same now appears to go for coaching.

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