British athletes Dai Greene and James Dasaolu stripped of funding

Dai Greene, left, won World gold in 2011 while Dasaolu, right, won European gold in 2014

Former world 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene and sprinter James Dasaolu, Britain's second fastest man over 100m, have been stripped of their National Lottery funding.

British Athletics has announced both men have been omitted from its world-class performance programmes for 2017.

Former Olympic and two-time world 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu, 32, will no longer get top-level podium funding.

But she will receive the same amount of funding as part of the relay squad.

• Full list of British Athletics' performance programme selections here

The total number of Olympic athletes on podium funding has dropped from 21 to 15 ahead of next year's World Championships in London.

Former Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, who retired last month, has also dropped off the funding list.

So have sprint hurdler William Sharman, 1500m runner Laura Weightman and 800m runner Andrew Osagie.

Welshman Greene, 30, became world champion in 2011 but has been plagued by injury in recent seasons.

Dasaolu, who dropped to relay funding last year, has been cut completely despite being part of the squad which won European gold in July.

He could only make the semi-finals of the Rio Olympics and was then dropped from the team for the 4x100m relay final.

The 29-year-old became the second-fastest Briton over 100m when he ran 9.91 seconds in 2013 and became European champion the following year.

In addition to the 15 athletes on the Olympic podium programme, there are 23 on the Paralympic one.

There are 29 athletes on the Olympic podium potential programme, with 24 joining the Paralympic equivalent.

A further 27 athletes are funded as part of the relay squads.

British Athletics has been going through the process to decide which athletes should receive funding since the Rio Olympics finished in August.

There are some notable omissions - including six Rio 2016 finalists. Among them is Scottish middle distance runner Eilish McColgan, 25, who set a personal best in the 5,000m and 1500m at the Olympic Games.

However, a British Athletics spokesman said athletes who were not part of the funding programme would still receive backing in other ways, such as training camps or access to medical support.

Those who feel they were wrongly overlooked can appeal.