News

Williamson promoted to sports news editor at Mail

Laura Williamson, the Daily Mail‘s athletics correspondent, has been promoted to sports news editor and will take up her post when she returns from maternity leave in April.

Laura Williamson: promoted to key role on Mail sports desk
Laura Williamson: promoted to key role on Mail sports desk

Williamson, a product of the Mail’s graduate trainee scheme, also covered football, Wimbledon tennis and wrote a weekly column.

Her appointment, described as a hugely important command position, was announced by Head of Sport Lee Clayton in an internal email last week.

Martha Kelner, the SJA’s Young Sports Writer of the Year in 2012, becomes the athletics correspondent of the Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online.

Williamson, who is a Grimsby fan, started her training at the Hull Daily Mail. She also worked for “Hawkeye”, then joined the Daily Mail’s online operation.

She took over from Neil Wilson as athletics correspondent following his retirement after the London 2012 Olympics but has taken a break after becoming a mother last September.

The sports news editor’s job became vacant in January following the promotion of Ted Chadwick to new sports editor Alex Kay-Jelksi’s executive team.

Kelner, who worked for 18 months as a horse racing blogger for William Hill, started her career on the Manchester Evening News.

As well as athletics, she has reported on football, rugby league and at Wimbledon. She was also taught to ski jump by Eddie the Eagle.

The final change in the seven-day operation comes with the announcement that Sam Peters has been promoted to become the Mail on Sunday’s rugby correspondent.

Peters, who started his career at Hayters, was also rugby and cricket correspondent of the News of the World. Notably, he spent his gap year as a second lieutenant in the army.

As rugby reporter on the MoS, Peters has been the driving force behind the paper’s concussion campaign.


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