Christian Malcolm, the first black head coach of British Athletics, has been told his role is to be discontinued.
The appointment of the two-time world junior sprint champion was hailed as a mark of progress in September 2020.
But yesterday it was announced that the 43-year old Welshman will step down from his role later this summer.
Malcolm said he was “very disappointed” by the decision.
UK Athletics claim the move will see more investment into coaches and say they will discuss opportunities with Malcolm.
New positions, including technical director, will be introduced in the restructure.
Many believe the reshuffle will result in Stephen Maguire, who lost out to Malcolm for the head coach role, returning in a new technical director role.
Mark Munro, the interim chief executive, said: "Unfortunately given all the changes we need to make and the greater prioritisation for investment into personal coaches, the Olympic head coach role does not sit within the revised structures.
"However, we have made a commitment to work with Christian over the summer with the potential for exploring other roles within the structure to enable us to maintain his involvement with UK Athletics."
The news comes a week after the UKA responded to complaints from former athlete Anyika Onuora about a lack of black representation in positions of power by pointing to Paula Dunn, Darren Campbell and Malcolm in the current set-up.
Malcolm said he “understands the rationale around this decision” and vowed to keep his focus through an unprecedented summer of three championships - even if the timing of this decision would seem to undermine his authority.
"My priority now is to continue working in the same way, maintaining professionalism and doing my job throughout the summer,” he said.
“I am fully focused on supporting our athletes and coaches, during this extremely busy summer for our sport.”
