British Athletics coach Leon Baptiste missing after trip to Morocco

Leon Baptiste, a 41-year-old British Athletics coach and former international sprinter, has not been heard from since travelling to Morocco around two months ago, a disappearance reported on 14 August 2026. A former teammate described the situation as: “It is very worrying.”

Baptiste coaches a number of elite athletes, including Paris Olympic 4x400m relay bronze medallist Charlie Dobson, and is a Loughborough-based consultant paid by UK Athletics. He is believed to have travelled to Morocco for the weekend with close friends for either a stag do or a golf trip. Messages to his phone have not been returned and UK Athletics has declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

Dobson has struggled in Baptiste’s absence and failed to progress from the 400m semi-finals at the European championships in Birmingham earlier this week, finishing fourth in his semi in a time of 45.18sec. That was more than a second slower than his personal best of 44.14 set last year. After the race Dobson said it had been “an interesting eight weeks”.

Dobson told reporters he had been hampered by injury niggles that contributed to his withdrawal from the recent Commonwealth Games. He did not compete in the heats of the men’s 4x400m on Friday morning.

UKA staff have stepped in to support Baptiste’s group, with former European 400m champion and relays coach Martyn Rooney taking Dobson under his wing. Rooney’s involvement follows UKA’s decision to provide cover for athletes affected by Baptiste’s absence.

As an athlete Baptiste won 200m and 4x100m relay gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi before being forced to retire at 28 because of a serious knee problem. He missed the London 2012 Olympics following surgery and moved into coaching after deciding not to defend his Commonwealth titles at the 2014 Games in Glasgow; at that time he said: “As much as I am sprinting and progressing, my body has never fully recovered from my knee surgery.” He added: “My coach and I feel that Glasgow Commonwealth Games qualification is a tall order – so the time has come for my focus to move elsewhere. “The decision for an athlete to retire is never easy, but in essence the decision has been made for me.”

It remains unclear whether Dobson will return for the men’s 4x400m final on Sunday evening, and the British Embassy in Rabat has been approached for comment.