CITY of Plymouth stars David King and James Arnott have both been named on British Athletics’ Futures Programme for the coming year.

They are among 34 promising Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls named on the scheme today.

British Athletics’ development manager Jo Summers said: “The Futures Programme seeks to support the next generation of champions and their coaches.

“We are delighted to be assisting the 34 athlete-coach pairings with their development plans and aid their future success.

“With 38 graduates of the Futures programme now on the WCPP (World Class Performance Programme), we aim to support the current cohort of athletes and coaches with financial assistance and medical support which can help towards following in the footsteps of athletes such as Dina Asher-Smith, Georgie Hermitage and Matthew Hudson-Smith.

“2016 is a key year in the development of these athletes as they aim to make the step up with London 2017 (IAAF and IPC World Championships) and Tokyo 2020 (Olympic and Paralympic Games) on the horizon.

“By supporting athlete-coach pairs, it allows for flexibility and individual discretion around distribution of resources, which will benefit the sport in these future years.”

King, who finished fourth in the 110m hurdles at the European Under-23 Championships this summer, was on the programme a couple of years ago, but last year was on the TASS scheme, which is for athletes in education.

He is delighted to be back involved on the programme after graduating university in the summer.

“It’s really good news,” said 21-year-old King, who enjoyed an impressive 2015. “It gives me a bit of financial support, which is always welcome, and it will give me some medical support. It’s really good to be involved with British Athletics.”

Paralympic 100m and 200m hopeful, Arnott tweeted: “So excited to be selected to be on the British Athletics Futures 2015 Programme and looking forward to seeing what happens in the new season.”

The Futures programme is a British Athletics support programme for athletes and their coaches which underpins the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP).  The 2015-16 programme runs from 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016 and will continue British Athletics’ drive towards more targeted support for athletes and their coaches.