Symington's primary responsibility will be to coordinate strategy for a Britain-wide performance and development system.

A former cyclist, Symington competed for Britain at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Games, before retiring and moving into coaching roles at British Cycling and British Triathlon.

Symington has also worked as a performance advisor for UK Sport.

She additionally spent six years as performance director for Archery GB, leading the Olympic and Paralympic programmes, and in 2015 took up the same position at England Netball, helping the nation to its first Commonwealth Games title in netball at Gold Coast 2018.

Now she will be responsible for delivering the UK Sport-funded Olympic and Paralympic World Class Programmes in athletics.

"I am delighted to join British Athletics at this juncture in its journey," Symington said.

"On a professional level I’m looking forward to sharing some of my experiences whilst learning from others within this great sport, including all the staff, athletes, coaches, stakeholders and partners as to how the sport moves forward but ultimately strives for future success on the world stage.

"I’m an athlete at heart who moved into leadership roles but my overriding ambition has always been about creating an environment where our athletes and staff thrive and deliver continued success both individually and collectively."

Symington will lead a team of coaches and specialists at UK Athletics, aiming to achieve success at the Olympics as well as major events such as the World Athletics Championships and the European Athletics Championships.

The experienced executive will also form part of the selection panel choosing UK Athletics' next Olympic head coach, who will work alongside Paralympic head coach Paula Dunn.

"I am extremely excited to welcome Sara as our new performance director," Joanna Coates, UK Athletics chief executive, added.

"Her appointment is a major step as we move into an incredibly exciting time for athletics in the UK and is a brilliant opportunity for her to make a difference both immediately and in planning the future. 

"Sara possesses a vast wealth of knowledge and experience as both an athlete and a successful leader at a number of sports, which will prove vital in our short term planning towards Tokyo and allow us to quickly review and evaluate for the cycle to Paris."

Symington replaces former performance director Neil Black who resigned from his position in October last year.

Black stepped down after controversial American coach Alberto Salazar was given a four-year ban from the sport, with Black under fire for his relationship with Salazar and criticised for refusing to distance himself from the Salazar, who coached Sir Mo Farah to all four of his Olympic titles.

He had served as performance director since 2012 and passed away suddenly in April of this year.

Steve Paulding and Tommy Yule were set to lead the British team into Tokyo 2020 as interim World Class Programme director and interim director of performance support respectively.

However, plans changed after the Games were postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, meaning Symington will assume the role before Tokyo 2020.