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Manchester United hire legendary Olympic athletics coach to improve squad fitness
An iconic figure in track and field.
Manchester United have brought in iconic athletics coach Harry Marra in a bid to improve performances on the field.
The American has been hailed as one of the greatest athletics coaches in history, best known for his work with Ashton Eaton.
During their work together Eaton won Olympic gold in the decathlon at both the London and Rio Games.
He also claimed World Championship gold at Moscow 2013 and Beijing 2015 and set world records in both decathlon and indoor heptathlon.
Marra has worked with a number of other decathletes and heptathletes, including Brianne Theisen-Eaton who won Olympic bronze in Rio and two World Championship silvers.
Formerly Brianne Theisen, she married Ashton Eaton in 2013, with Marra officiating the wedding.
The veteran coach is now 78 years old, but he is still working and has been brought in by Manchester United for his expertise.
The Times reports that Marra is spending ‘a few weeks’ with the Red Devils and was in attendance as Ruben Amorim’s side beat Rangers in the Europa League last week.
It is not an unusual move for the club, who do bring in experts from other sports to share their knowledge on a regular basis, but Marra’s arrival has reportedly ‘been a cause of some excitement’ due to his reputation in athletics.
Marra won the IAAF Coaching Achievement Award at the World Athletics AWards in 2016 and went on to work with Indonesia on developing their track and field team.
He has also worked as speed and fitness consultant for the Major League Baseball team San Francisco Giants.
Amorim is keen to see his squad’s fitness to the optimum level after making clear that he expects a huge amount of running from his players.
Speaking last month, he said: ‘Impossible to win the Premier League without a team that doesn’t run.
‘You can do a starting line-up with the best players on the planet, without running they also won’t win. We have to run like mad dogs, if not we won’t win.
‘The problem is can they cope with that? If they are used to it in training, they will do it in games.
‘They can improve. You cannot be faster, but you can run more in training. They are professional athletes. Every coach has a different method of pressing.’
