Sailing guru in as performance director at British Cycling

MANCHESTER, England (AP) One of the key figures behind Britain's recent success in Olympic sailing has been hired as performance director at the country's cycling federation.

Stephen Park's appointment by British Cycling was announced on Friday, at a time of upheaval in the country's most successful Olympic sport.

British Cycling is currently without a technical director after Shane Sutton's resignation in April this year over allegations of discrimination. The organization has also been defending its integrity in recent weeks amid allegations of wrongdoing, which led to its leaders being questioned at British parliamentary doping hearings on Monday. UK Anti-Doping officials have also visited British Cycling headquarters.

The 48-year-old Park, who isn't a specialist in cycling, becomes British Cycling's first performance director since Dave Brailsford's departure in April 2014 to concentrate solely on Team Sky. His main task will be to continue Britain's dominance of Olympic cycling, with the country winning six gold medals from 10 track events at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

In his role as British Sailing's Olympics manager, Park led Britain's sailors to the top of the Olympic medal table in Rio and helped Britain amass 23 Olympic and Paralympic medals in his 15 years at the helm.

''Clearly cycling poses very different challenges to sailing,'' Park said, ''but it's a sport I am very passionate about from a personal perspective.''