22 February 2022

By Göran R Buckhorn

British Rowing announced some new changes to their Paralympic Team yesterday.

New Paralympic Head Coach is Nick Baker, who has coached the GB Paralympic Team for almost 10 years. Baker is replacing Tom Dyson, who has been leading the Paralympic Programme for 14 years. While Baker is joining Men’s Olympic Head Coach Paul Stannard and Women’s Olympic Head Coach Andrew Randell on the GBRT leadership team, Dyson will move into the newly created role of Head of Olympic and Paralympic Performance Delivery. He will head up the Programme Support Team and will take on the line management of Operations, Logistics, Resources and Athlete support, according to British Rowing’s website.

Taking on his new role, Nick Baker will be supported this summer by coach James Loveday.

“I’ve worked with the team since 2013 and moved on a huge amount in that time. Tom and I have different skill sets, we’ve complemented each other, and I’ve learnt so much from him over the years. I can now put my stamp on the programme in a conservative way as Tom and I have always refined and moved on,” Baker said. “We have a big influx of exciting new athletes coming into the team and I want to push the limits and see what we can do to make the whole system, across boat classes, successful. I want to ensure that all our athletes’ lives are enhanced and that they have a good experience from being part of the programme.”

With Tom Dyson as head of the Paralympic Programme, Great Britain became the top Paralympic Rowing nation. GB has been on top of the medal table at the last two Paralympic Games and has won six Paralympic gold medals and taken 12 World Championship titles.

“Whilst excited about the prospect of taking on a new role, I am of course sad to be stepping back from the Paralympic team as Head Coach after 14 years. I’ve had the chance to work closely with some incredibly talented athletes and some brilliant coaches. Nick is an incredible coach and I’m confident the team can’t be in better hands going forward. I’m excited to see him put his stamp on the programme and to watch the team thrive as they move towards Paris,” Dyson said. “Looking forward, I’m excited to be taking on a role where I can keep contact with the Paralympic team and also work more broadly with the performance support team across Olympic delivery. It will be great to work more closely with the team behind the team that have supported so much of the success I enjoyed as a coach.”

Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance added: “I am absolutely delighted to be able to work with both Tom and Nick as part of the Senior Leadership Team. Tom’s leadership of the Paralympic Programme has been outstanding, and I am sure the athletes will miss him greatly but moving forward Tom will be able to positively impact on the performances of both the Olympic and Paralympic teams.”