British Cycling's funding slashed by 14 per cent ahead of Tokyo Olympics

British Cycling has had its funding cut by 14 per cent ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, with UK Sport announcing today the amount of money that national governing bodies will receive for the 2017-20 cycle.

After dominating the track events at Rio for a third Olympics in a row and exceeding its medal target, the governing body had been hopeful of an increase in funding.

But it emerged last month that falling National Lottery sales meant UK Sport had less money to invest for the coming four years.

> National Lottery ticket sale slump could hit British Cycling's funding ahead of Tokyo 2020

For the Rio cycle, British Cycling received Olympic funding of £30.2 million with a further £6.8 million of funding for para-cycling.

Under today’s announcement, Olympic funding is cut to £26 million, the same as it was ahead of London 2012. Paralympic funding has increased, however, rising to £7.7 million.

Sports including athletics, sailing, swimming and hockey have all received an increase in funding, but five have had their funding removed altogether – archery, badminton, fencing, weightlifting and wheelchair rugby.

Total National Lottery and government funding for the coming cycle is £345 million, with UK Sport aiming to secure more Olympic and Paralympic medals and medallists at Tokyo compared to Rio.

Its chair, Rod Carr, said: “These are critical funding decisions for sports to take them on their journey to Tokyo 2020 and beyond so the historic success at Rio can be maintained.

“We have received incredible support from the government, who have confirmed their commitment to funding our ambitions through to Tokyo 2020, providing the financial assurances needed for the continued evolution of our high performance system to ensure the athletes and sports with strong medal potential have what they need to inspire the nation.”

British Cycling said: “Topping the cycling medal tables at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games remains our goal and we began implementing our Tokyo plans two years ago.

“The sustainability of the Great Britain Cycling Team and, more widely, British Cycling has long been a key priority for us and we are becoming less reliant on public money thanks to the support of our commercial partners.

“Further to our plans to become more sustainable, British Cycling’s ‘Rider Route’ talent pathways have been realigned to reflect our Tokyo 2020 ambitions and graduates of the pathways have already won medals at elite world level this year.”