James Hillier’s journey: From working as property surveyor to coaching India’s fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and fastest man Amlan Borgohain | Sport-others News

As James Hillier tries to explain the cultural shock he experienced after shifting his base to India four years ago, a cacophony of voices wafts through the phone. There’s the sound of Hillier’s four-year-old son Billie jockeying for his father’s attention. And then there’s the sharp sounds of honking from the vehicle that Hillier is travelling in as it manoeuvres its way through the streets of Bhubaneswar. It’s a measure of just how long Hillier has been in India that his mind has auto-tuned the honking out. There are other aspects of the country though that he’s still coming to terms with.“People in India have welcomed us like family. But yes, it’s a bit of a culture shock. Everyone’s so respectful here! I’ve never been called ‘sir’ so much! The funniest thing is, everyone wants me to sit down all the time! In the UK, you offer seats to old people. So I always ask people here, ‘do I look old?’ Because they’re always offering me a seat!” he says.
Hillier’s tryst with India has so far led to the regeneration of the careers of Jyothi Yarraji, who is the country’s fastest woman hurdler, and Amlan Borgohain, India’s fastest sprinter. Both of them have broken the national record multiple times since they started to train under the Welshman at the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High-Performance Centre. Yarraji, in fact, has no qualms in calling Hillier a ‘father figure’, while Borgohain swears Hillier’s tough love that has seen him become the record-holder in the 100m and 200m sprint events.
On Tuesday, when Yarraji hits the track in Budapest for the 100m hurdles heats at the World Athletics Championships, it will be a remarkable moment for Hillier too, who used to work as a property surveyor in the UK for a couple of years after retiring as a 400m hurdler right after the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

A special message for @JyothiYarraji from back home in India! 😍
She’s all set to make her first appearance at the #WorldAthleticsChamps on August 22nd! 🙌@ril_foundation @sports_odisha @afiindia @wabudapest23 | #RelianceFoundation #RFSports #LetsPlay #Athletics #WABudapest23… pic.twitter.com/F4MG6z4LsT
— RF Youth Sports (@RFYouthSports) August 21, 2023
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Explaining his job requirement back in the day, he says: “I was specifically involved in energy efficiency. I’d go to a property and see how energy efficient it was. I’d inspect the boiler, the heating system and then give the property an energy rating and recommendations on how to save on energy bills. It was good because I had a bit of a break from athletics but it was during that period that I realised that something was missing from my life.”
Hillier says that he had convinced himself he enjoyed the job. But at a networking event late in 2008, something a complete stranger told him struck a nerve.
“He asked me a question that has stayed with me all my life: ‘What would you do on a Sunday afternoon for free?’ I don’t even know who that guy was, but he changed my life. I thought to myself I’m going to put myself out there and make the phone ring. And one day, out of nowhere, the phone rang! It was Malcolm Arnold, the national coach for hurdles in the UK, calling to inform me that there were multiple openings as apprentice coach at British Athletics in 2009. When that opportunity arose, I gave up the property stuff. Then on, I did everything I could to become the best coach I could absolutely be,” he says.
What also helped Hillier become his best version as a coach was that while he had the job as an apprentice coach, he was one of the handful of coaches picked UK Sport (their equivalent of Sports Authority of India) for an elite coach programme, which basically paid him a handsome stipend (equivalent of Rs 10 lakh) to use for his own development any way he saw fit.
The next few years saw Hillier read every book on the discipline he could get his hands on. He travelled the world, shuttling from one country to the other picking up tiny nuances of the craft from subject matter experts. He spent time with Gary Winckler, who used to be the hurdles coach at Illinois State, to get a firmer footing on his coaching concepts. He went to Texas for three weeks to work with Darryl Anderson (at Texas Chrian University) and Vince Anderson (at Texas A&M University) on acceleration. He spent time at Baylor University with Michael Ford, who was working with Trayvon Bromell at the time. He went to Germany for a week to work with Rüdiger Harksen, who was then the head women’s hurdles coach for Germany. He flew down to Canberra for two weeks to work with his old coach, who was great at managing athletes. He also observed hurdles coach Mike Hurst, who specialised in 400m hurdles.
Those stints saw his career take off. After London 2012, he was promoted to High-Performance coach, during which he coached Olympic medall Emily Diamond. Post-Rio 2016, he moved to England Athletics and became the head coach for speed.
James Hillier with India’s fastest woman hurdler Jyothi Yarraji (centre) and the country’s and fastest man Amlan Borgohain.
India-bound
Just like he made the phone ring for the opportunity with British Athletics manifesting it, the India gig in 2019 came out of nowhere, without Hillier having applied for the opening at the Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC, where his current role is that of Director of Athletics.
Getting the job was the easier part. Doing it was rendered tricky the coronavirus pandemic. Even though the training group remained in a bio-secure bubble at the Kalinga Stadium, Hillier was living with his family in Bhubaneswar and training them virtually via tiny laptop screens.
Things on the personal front got complicated for the family with Hillier’s wife Alyce pregnant at the time with their second child. The plan initially was to have the ba delivered in Mumbai, but then as the city’s medical infrastructure came under duress due to the sheer volume of coronavirus cases, the decision was made to travel home for the delivery, and just in time too!
“At that time, in July 2020, there was one repatriation flight a day going from India to the UK. It was so last-minute that I was doing a presentation for an Odisha official and as soon as I shut my laptop, we sprinted out the door for the airport. There were about 10 people on the flight! We were sprayed with things stewardesses who were in PPE kits from head to toe. It was a very surreal time. Initially they were not letting us on the flight because there’s a rule that they don’t allow women to fly after 36 weeks of pregnancy, and she had just a few days left for that.”
As he recollects those uncertain days now, Hillier is overcome with gratitude for the sacrifices his family had to make for him to do what he does best.
What makes Hillier’s stint in India remarkable is the fact that only last year, Athletics Federation of India chief Adille Sumariwala was telling journals that many of the foreign coaches that had applied for jobs in India wanted to come down only for short stints, and live in their home countries for most of the year. Hillier, on the other hand, effectively resettled his family in Bhubaneswar. This meant his wife Alyce, a lawyer who specialised in child protection, had to sacrifice her career so they could come to India. It also meant that the couple’s two kids, four-year-old Billy and two-year-old Isla have largely grown up in India.
“The two kids are crazy, they just run about causing havoc everywhere they go. My wife’s really embraced the culture. She watches a lot of Bollywood movies. I think she’s hoping that one day she’ll get into one of these movies,” chuckles Hillier. “My wife’s the reason for this working out. She’s the brains behind the whole operation.”Most Read
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Having lived away from home for nearly half a decade, Hillier is more certain than ever that this is what he wants to do.
“Maybe it’s a big cliche. Or a bit cheesy. But coaching is my calling,” says Hillier.
There is no doubt in his mind what he would be doing on a Sunday afternoon for free.