Surprise as Sainsbury's pulls out of British Athletics sponsor deal

Sainsbury's has cut short its four-year deal with British Athletics to sponsor the sport.  The large-scale deal was signed in 2013 and was due to run until 2017.

But an announcement came just days before the World Athletics Championships start in Beijing to say that a mid-point review had allowed the supermarket to end the deal early.

Jenny Meadows at this year's UK Indoor Championship, EIS Sheffield

The surprise to many will be the timing - we have only just had the third Anniversary Games in London, all of which were backed by Sainsbury's, and it was only last year that they had agreed to sponsor all of British Athletics major events.