Manchester City Council’s National Cycling Centre, National Taekwondo Centre and Aquatics Centre have been accredited as UK Sport Elite Training Centres (ETC), recognising their roles in supporting Olympic and Paralympic athletes to achieve success on the world stage.

The accreditation highlights the organisation’s contribution to providing world-class daily training environments, bringing together high-quality facilities, expert practitioners and a strong performance culture to support athletes and coaches.

As part of the UK Sport network of Elite Training Centres, Manchester City Council will work collaboratively with centres across the UK to support a connected and high-performing system, enabling athletes to access the environments and expertise they need to succeed.

This network of centres plays a vital role in the UK’s high performance system, creating environments that bring together people, expertise and facilities to drive performance and support sustained Olympic and Paralympic success.

In Manchester, athletes from Cycling, Swimming and Taekwondo benefit from access to their training facilities, alongside integrated support from coaches and performance specialists. The centres have all played a key role in supporting athletes to achieve success at Olympic and Paralympic Games and world championships.

In recent years, Manchester’s Elite Training Centres have produced multiple Olympic and Paralympic medallists including swimmers Ellie Simmonds and Poppy Maskill, BMX racers Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte, track cyclists Emma Finucane and Matt Richardson and Taekwondo’s  Jade Jones and Amy Trusdale.

The network boasts a number of unique facilities including the Velodrome indoor cycling arena, the indoor BMX Centre and Wind Tunnel, all used by the GB Cycling Teams, the National Taekwondo Centre with its state-of-the-art purpose built strength and conditioning gym and the Manchester Aquatics Centre that includes a 50 metre underground training pool.

The sports have also unlocked great relationships with partners that help them deliver their performance outcomes, including Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Manchester, Nuffield Health and facility operator GLL.

YVONNE O’MALLEY, HEAD OF LEISURE, EVENTS & CONTRACTS AT MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL:

“We are incredibly proud to be accredited as a UK Sport Elite Training Centre. In Manchester, we are committed to creating an environment where athletes and staff can thrive, with access to world-class facilities, expertise and support.

This accreditation recognises the strength of our partnerships and the role we play in supporting Olympic and Paralympic sport in the UK. We look forward to continuing to work closely with UK Sport and partners across the system to build on this success and support future generations of athletes.”

ABOUT THE UK SPORT ELITE TRAINING CENTRE NETWORK

To achieve UK Sport accreditation, centres must demonstrate excellence across areas including facilities, people, partnerships and athlete support, alongside a clear commitment to continuous improvement.

Elite Training Centres form part of a UK-wide network of high performance environments, designed to support athletes, coaches and practitioners through collaboration, shared learning and access to world-class expertise.