The 19-year-old will take part in the BT Great CityGames in Manchester’s city centre on Saturday – his first race since setting a new Paralympic Games record to win T44 100m gold in the Olympic Stadium last September.

World record holder Peacock then underwent an operation on a troublesome ankle injury, but is ready to return to the track with his sights set firmly on bettering his best-ever time of 10.85seconds.

Peacock, from Cambridge, is unsure how quickly he will run in Manchester at the weekend, but is targeting making his fastest ever time in the near future.

“I had a big ankle operation after London 2012 so my recovery has been a little bit prolonged from the Games because of that,” he revealed.

“I have only been training a few months now and we have done a bit of testing so we can tell roughly tell what kind of shape I am in, but we are not going to know for sure until race day.

“I get really annoyed with myself if I don’t see a PB on the clock. I want to go faster than I have ever gone before, no-one wants to go slower than they have gone so that is the goal – but we don’t know when that will come.

“We don’t know whether that will come at the end of the year, at the beginning of the year, or maybe even not at all this year.

“I have changed my training base and my coach so a lot has changed for me in a year and it is about settling in. This year we are going to look to do things but it is really about next year.”

World-class athletics returns to Manchester with the BT Great CityGames on Saturday 25 May. Olympic and, for the first time, Paralympic champions will compete in the city centre and it’s free to watch. BT has a long history of supporting Paralympic sport and is a partner of the British Paralympic Association all the way to 2016.

Copeland memorably won gold with Sophie Hosking at Eton Dorney last summer, only to cast doubts over her immediate future by stating her intention to return to education having previously started studying a degree in biology at Durham University.

But having spent the first three months of the year on a break in Australia, the 22-year-old revealed she has returned to training and is already looking forward to next year’s World Championships.

Hosking and Copeland won gold in the lightweight women’s double scull event at their home Games, finishing more than two seconds clear of silver medallists China.

But while Hosking admits she is erring on the side of retirement, Teeside’s Copeland is back in training as the Rio 2016 cycle takes hold.

“I am just getting fit because I went away and had a really long holiday,” she revealed. “I just needed a bit of a break but it just made me really excited to get back training, and even though I’m unfit I’m really enjoying it.

“Even when I say I am thinking about what I’m going to do, deep down I know I am always going to keep rowing – I just love it and I am really lucky I can do it as my job.

“I think having some time away at the beginning of this year, and then coming back, I realised I have it good and I have a pretty good life with training.

“I’m just getting fit for the first set of trials in November for the 2013-14 season. I will do a couple of domestic races this summer to get fit again and then it is on to the World Championships next year.”

Lloyds TSB Local Heroes, in partnership with SportsAid, has supported 1,000 of Britain’s most talented developing athletes. As part of Lloyds TSB’s commitment to helping future sports stars prosper, the programme will continue in 2013. Follow future stars at facebook.com/lloydstsblocalheroes

Eriksson was appointed Olympic head coach back in October, replacing the outgoing Charles van Commenee who stepped down from the role soon after the London 2012 Olympics.

The 60-year-old led Britain’s track and field athletes to 29 medals at the London 2012 Paralympics – breaking down to 11 gold, seven silver and 11 bronze – before switching to the Olympic programme.

As Olympic head coach he led Britain to eight medals at the European Indoor Championships in March, including four golds, but will leave his post at the end of June to be with his family in Canada.

Eriksson will take charge of the British team for the European Team Championships in Gateshead from June 22-23 with performance director Neil Black overseeing head coach duties.

Black will do so for the remainder of the summer, including the World Championships in Moscow, and Eriksson said: “Words cannot describe how disappointed I am to take this step.

“There is no bigger job in athletics anywhere in the world. At present I have no plans, but accept that if I am to take any other job in sport it will be a step down.

“Athletics in Great Britain receives the best possible support through the National Lottery, and that, coupled with the performance structure here means it is every coach’s dream to hold this position.

“However no job is more important than family and children, and personal circumstances mean that mine need me to be back in Canada.”

And Black, who was appointed to the post of performance director in September, insists he is relishing the remainder of time he has left working with Eriksson.

“This is a big disappointment but it could not have been foreseen six months ago, and Peter has been open with us on the personal challenges he faces,” said Black.

“Working with Peter we have put together a team of elite coaches leading each of the Event Groups based at the Institute and they will able to help me cover the head coach duties for the summer with minimal disruption.

“But for now we are looking forward to a strong team performance in Gateshead and I look forward to working alongside Peter towards this goal.”

Simpson, who won Star class gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Iain Percy and silver in the same event at London 2012, was trapped underwater after the 72-foot Artemis catamaran, racing under Swedish colours, capsized.

John Derbyshire, performance director of the Royal Yachting Association, described Simpson, widely known by his nickname Bart, as an inspiration.

“We’re devastated by the news from San Francisco,” he said. “Andrew is someone I’ve worked closely with since the age of 16.

“He was a great talent and a key figure in our World Class Programme over many years culminating in his well-deserved Olympic success.

“He was a huge inspiration to others, both within the British Sailing Team and across the nation and our deepest sympathies go out to his family at this terrible time.”

British Olympic team-mates, including gold medallists Helen Glover and Greg Rutherford, were quick to pay their tributes on Twitter while Stephen Park, the RYA’s Olympic manager, added Simpson was ‘a fantastic sailor who got the best out of everyone he sailed with’.

Meanwhile a statement from the British Olympic Association read: “We are devastated to hear about the tragic training accident in San Francisco which led to the loss of Olympian Andrew Simpson’s life.

“Andrew was a treasured and accomplished member of Team GB, both at the home Olympics in London 2012, where he won silver with childhood friend Iain Percy in the Star class, and at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where he won the gold medal also sailing alongside Iain.

“Andrews’s talent and humour was an inspiration to others and he will be sorely missed by the Olympic Family. Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s family, friends and fellow athletes during this very difficult time.”

Simpson, 36, was born in Surrey and lived in Dorset, though had recently relocated to California to join the Swedish America’s Cup team, where he was working as a strategist.

“The entire team is devastated by what happened,” said Artemis chief executive Paul Cayard, a sailing world champion and America’s Cup veteran.

“Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family.”

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The subject of which rider will front the assault on the 100th edition of the race has been the talk of cycling for months, especially after four-time Olympic champion Wiggins hinted he remained open to the challenge of an assault on two Grands Tours.

But team principal Sir Dave Brailsford has finally confirmed that Froome, 27, a Team GB bronze medallist at last year’s Olympics and runner-up behind Wiggins in the 2012 Tour, will be the man for the role.

“As always, the team selection is a management decision and it will be evidence-based. However, it is crucial there is clarity of purpose and, for that reason, we will go to the Tour with one leader,” he said.

“Since the start of season, Bradley’s performance plan has focused around training specifically to try and win the Giro and then ride the Tour, while Chris’s has been focused on attempting to win the Tour.

“Taking that into consideration and given Chris’s step up in performances this year, our plan, as it has been since January, is to have him lead the Tour de France team.

“With over seven weeks until the Tour and the Giro d’Italia to focus on, our final selection of nine won’t be confirmed until after the Criterium du Dauphine.

“Everyone here is 100 per cent focused on the Giro and the next three weeks.”

Wiggins finished in the safety of the main group as Luca Paolini claimed the third stage of the Giro d’Italia, a 222km run between Sorrento and Marina di Ascea, line honours which also secured the maglia rosa and overall race lead.

Wiggins still sits second overall, 17 seconds behind Paolini while team-mate Rigoberto Uran is third.

Mark Cavendish lost the leader’s jersey to 23-year old Italian Team Sky rider Salvatore Puccio, who was first to cross the line as the British-based outfit dominated a 17.4km team time trial on the island of Ischia.

With Wiggins working hard and inspiring at the front, Team Sky covered the course at an average speed of 47.275kph, clocking 22 minutes and five seconds as the British favourite claimed some valuable seconds over his general classification rivals.

He now sits second in the overall standings, with the same time as Puccio.

“I’m very very proud,” Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford told BBC Sport. “It was a technical course and it was a hard course and they rode fantastically well.

“There was no flat where they could really open it up so it was more like a power climb, a descent and about keeping the team together and they did a brilliant ride to be fair.

“Our plan for winning the race doesn’t change one iota, this is a fantastic day and it’s great for Salvatore [to be the race leader] and great for the team but the plan doesn’t change.”

Home hope Vincenzo Nibali was 14 seconds down, defending champion Ryder Hesjedal was 25 seconds adrift and former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans is now 37 seconds off the pace set by Wiggins.

Williams, who claimed Britain’s first individual Winter Olympic gold for 30 years at Vancouver 2010 with victory in the women’s skeleton, was informed at a fundraising dinner in London on Wednesday.

At the same event, which saw £100,000 raised to support the team in the lead up to next year’s Olympics in Sochi, British Skeleton also welcomed triple Olympian Michel de Carvalho as their new president.

And Williams, who announced her retirement from skeleton almost a year ago to the date and was named as the first official Team GB 2014 Ambassador by the BOA in February, insisted it is an honour to be given the role.

“I’m so proud to have been asked to take up this position; skeleton has been my life and I’m really pleased I will be able to stay involved in the sport,” said Williams.

“I hope my knowledge and experience can help the sport as a whole as I know there is so much potential, in the athletes, coaches and the opportunities for the governing body to grow and continue to succeed.”

The London 2012 200m gold medallist and world record holder will run a marathon a day from John O’Groats to Land’s End for charity, starting in August.

The 36-year-old hopes to inspire others during the run, which will come a month after the Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium in July.

“I am quite dynamic as an athlete when competing and training,” said Whitehead. “On the track at the moment we have got the Anniversary Games in July as well as the World Championships but I have my own personal challenge in August which is to run Britain.

“It seems a little bit crazy but I will be running 40 marathons in approximately 40 days and that is really to spread the message and the legacy of what I have done in my life as an athlete.

“It is about inspiring people to think more widely about themselves in sport and embrace new ideas.

“It is probably the biggest challenge [of my career]. A thousand miles is a massive challenge for anybody to cycle never mind to run.

“I think transferring my skills from being a Paralympic gold medallist and world record holder through to running a thousand miles is going to be really tough but with the team around me hopefully we can pull in the same direction to be successful.”

Lloyds TSB Local Heroes, in partnership with SportsAid, has supported 1,000 of Britain’s most talented developing athletes. As part of Lloyds TSB’s commitment to helping future sports stars prosper, the programme will continue in 2013. Follow future stars at facebook.com/lloydstsblocalheroes

The 23-year-old was a part of the first ever Great Britain women’s basketball team to compete at an Olympics at London 2012 last summer.

However there was little to cheer as Allen and co failed to win any of their five games, while the men’s side managed just one victory.

Following the Games British Basketball was told by UK Sport that it would receive no funding, having previously been handed £8.6m for London 2012, only to be awarded £7m after an appeal.

But despite the rollercoaster ride her and her team-mates have been on, Allen is adamant it is now full-steam ahead towards Brazil.

“We have the EuroBasket in June in France so preparation will start for that and I am really looking forward to getting back to it,” said Allen, who will return to the Olympic Park for the first time since last summer’s Games on Sunday 21 July for the National Lottery Anniversary Run.

“We just want to do as well as possible. We got some great experience at the Olympics and before the Olympics and we just want to keep that momentum going.

“The aim now is to qualify for Rio in 2016 and the EuroBasket will play a part of that and everyone is determined to get to Brazil.

“Preparation has been a bit up and down with all the funding issues but it is great that we have got our funding back.

“And while it never stopped the players from pushing forward the funding obviously helps and I believe we are now back on track for Rio in 2016.”

It has been all change for Allen once the dust settled on London 2012 as she upped sticks to play for Meccanica Nova Bologna in Italy.

Centre Allen helped her new side finish eighth in the South A2 League standings and is convinced the move abroad will only help her improve.

“I took a month off and went to America for a little bit but I have just finished my first full season over in Italy,” she added.

“It was very different in Italy as no one spoke English to me, I had an Italian coach and it was difficult to begin with.

“But it was a really good experience for me and I think it has and will help my become a better player.”

The National Lottery Anniversary Run will take place on Sunday July 21. Places are available via www.nationallotteryrun.com