British Cycling track sprint coach has liver transplant

British Cycling sprint coach Justin Grace has had a liver transplant and will miss this weekend’s Track World Cup in Glasgow. The Press Association reports that the New Zealander has been suffering liver failure and awaiting a transplant for some time.

Grace was admitted to St James Hospital in Leeds for surgery on Wednesday and yesterday tweeted:

On Wed night I had lifesaving surgery, receiving a Liver Transplant at St James hospital Leeds. I'm out of ICU & rehab has begun already!

— Justin Grace (@G_Racecycling) November 4, 2016

British Cycling was aware of his condition and Grace updated colleagues on recent developments by email, asking those who had not already done so to sign up to the NHS organ donor register.

Grace expects to be discharged in around a fortnight and could return to work part-time in six weeks.

Grace joined British Cycling’s sprint coaching staff from the French Cycling Federation in 2014. Prior to that, he had spent five years working with the New Zealand sprint squad having been a successful track sprinter himself, winning 13 national titles and representing his country at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.

When coaching the New Zealand squad, Grace put riders through their paces in his garage on a bike built by his dad.   

"I said, 'let's try to replicate what a world-class institute of sport would do but we will do it in a garage,'' he told The New Zealand Herald at the time.