Andrew Butchart

Andrew Butchart (born 14 October 1991) is a British runner who competed in the 5000 metres event at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the current Scottish record holder in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000 metre events. In June 2023, he broke the parkrun “world-record”.

Andrew Butchart
Butchart at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Birth nameAndrew Butchart
NationalityBritish
Born (1991-10-14) 14 October 1991
Stirling, Scotland[1]
OccupationRunner
Years active2015–present
Sport
SportLong-distance running
Event(s)3000 m, 5000 m, 10,000 m, cross country
ClubCentral Athletic Club, Stirling
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)3000 m – 7:35.18 NR (2021)
5000 m – 13:06.21 NR (2019)[2]
10000 m – 27:36.77 NR (2022)

Career

Butchart has trained at the Central Athletic Club in Stirling.[3][4] At the age of 16, Butchart came third in the Scottish schools cross-country championships.[5] He won the 2014 Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash.[6] Butchart won his first professional race in the 5000 metres event at the 2015 Scottish Seniors Championships; he also finished second in the 1,500 metres race.[7] In June 2015, Butchart was selected for the European 10,000m Cup despite having never previously run a 10,000m race on a track, and also finished third in the 3000 metres event at the European Team Championships in Moscow.[8][9] In November he won the Scottish Short Course Cross County Championships.[10]

Butchart became a full-time athlete at the beginning of 2016, leaving a fitness coaching job based at Gleneagles Hotel.[11][12] In February 2016, Butchart won the Scottish Cross Country Championships,[13][14] and in May, Butchart broke Nat Muir's Scottish record in the 5000 metres event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games. His time was 13:13.30, four seconds quicker than Muir's record, which had stood for 36 years, and Butchart ran the last lap of the race with only one shoe.[15][16] In June 2016, Butchart broke the Scottish 3000 metre record at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham; Butchart recorded a time of 7:45:00, less than a second quicker than John Robson's record from 1984. In the same race, Mo Farah broke the British 3000 metre record.[17][18] Later in the month, he won the 5000 metres event at the British Championships, meaning that he qualified for the 5000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[19][3]

Butchart was the third athlete from the small town of Dunblane to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, after brothers Andy and Jamie Murray.[19][11] Butchart qualified for the 5000 metre Olympic final, after finishing fifth in his heat in a time of 13:20.08,[20] and finished sixth in the final, recording a personal best time of 13:08.61.[lower-alpha 1][22][23] In 2016, he also won the London 10,000 race.[3]

Butchart won a bronze medal at the 2017 European Cross Country Championships.[24] Butchart was scheduled to compete at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia,[25][11] but later had to withdraw due to a broken foot.[26] Butchart led the British team at the 2019 European Cross Country Championships.[24][27] He qualified for the final at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, after Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen was disqualified in the semi-finals.[28] In February 2021, Butchart was warned by British Athletics for criticising his coach on social media in September 2019.[29] In March 2021, he reached the final in the men's 3000 metres event at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships held in Toruń, Poland.[30]

Butchart qualified for the 5,000 metres event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics after coming second at the 2021 British Athletics Championships.[31] On 29 June 2021, UK Athletics said that they were investigating claims that Butchart faked a COVID-19 test to get entry to the United Kingdom for the Championships.[32] On 17 July, he was given a 12-month suspended ban, which meant he could still compete at the Olympics.[33] At the Games, Butchart finished 11th in the final.[34] In October 2021, Butchart's funding from The National Lottery was cut due to the pre-Olympics COVID-19 test incident.[35]

In March 2022, Butchart set a Scottish national record time of 27:36.77 in the 10,000 metres event, during his first competition at the distance.[36] In July 2022, he was selected for the Scottish team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to compete in the 5000 and 10,000 metres events.[37] He finished seventh in the 10,000 metres event.[38]

In May 2023, Butchart became British champion in the 10,000 metres event, after being the highest finishing Briton at the Night of the 10k PBs event.[39] In June, he set the record for the fastest ever Parkrun time, finishing the Edinburgh parkrun 5,000 metres event in 13:45, which was 3 seconds faster than the previous record that had been held by Andy Baddeley for 11 years.[40]

Personal life

Butchart lived in Dunblane, Scotland, the same town as Andy and Jamie Murray.[19][11][41] He now lives with his partner and fellow runner Lynsey Sharp in San Diego, US.[25][11] In October 2019, the couple announced their engagement.[42] In 2021, Butchart and Sharp had their first child, Max.[43]

Notes
  1. Butchart originally finished seventh, but was awarded sixth place after the disqualification of Muktar Edris.[21]

References
  1. "Andrew Butchart profile". British Athletics. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  2. Andrew Butchart. IAAF
  3. "Andrew Butchart wins 5,000m at British Championships to seal Olympics spot". BBC Sport. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  4. McLeod, Rhona (1 August 2016). "Rio 2016: Scot Andrew Butchart on track for big impact in 5000m". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  5. Gillon, Doug (1 December 2014). "Butchart: 'I have given up a lot . . . it's all about training now'". The Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  6. "Thousands of runners take to the streets for Age UK's Leeds Abbey Dash". Run 247. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  7. "Andrew Butchart wins first Scottish track gold with 5000m success". Athletics Weekly. 16 August 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  8. "Andrew Butchart thanks British Athletics for taking a gamble on him". Scottish Athletics. 3 June 2015. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016 – via Run Jump Throw.
  9. Morton, Donald (24 June 2015). "Dunblane runner Andrew Butchart continues fine season as he pushes Europe's best". Daily Record. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  10. Woods, Mark (8 November 2015). "Laura Muir and Andrew Butchart master the Bellahouston marshes". The Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  11. Gordon, Moira (3 June 2016). "Andrew Butchart targets Olympics with Andy and Jamie Murray". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  12. Thomson, Jenny (4 August 2016). "Andrew Butchart emerges as Dunblane's latest Olympic talent". STV. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  13. "Beth Potter and Andrew Butchart win Scottish Cross Country". Athletics Weekly. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  14. Jardine, Peter (28 February 2016). "Beth Potter and Andrew Butchart keep their feet on the ground ahead of Olympic year with wins at Scottish Cross". The Herald. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  15. "Athletics: One-shoe Andrew Butchart breaks Nat Muir's 5000m Scottish national record". BBC Sport. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  16. Whittington, Jessica (22 May 2016). "Andrew Butchart breaks Scottish 5000m record in Hengelo". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  17. "New 3,000m Scottish record for in-form Andrew Butchart". BBC Sport. 5 June 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  18. Whittington, Jessica (6 June 2016). "Mo Farah breaks British record at brilliant Birmingham meet". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  19. Fairnie, Robert (29 June 2016). "Andrew Butchart becomes third Dunblane resident on plane to Rio after British champs win". Daily Record. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  20. "Rio Olympics 2016: Mo Farah and Andrew Butchart qualify for 5,000m final". BBC Sport. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  21. "Rio Olympics 2016: Great Britain's Mo Farah wins 5,000m & 10,000m 'double double'". BBC Sport. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  22. Ingle, Sean (21 August 2016). "Magical Mo Farah bags another Olympic gold and earns his place in history". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  23. "Men's 5000m Final Results". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  24. "European Cross Country Championships: Andrew Butchart makes GB return". BBC Sport. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  25. "Love blossoms as Lynsey Sharp and Andrew Butchart launch Scots' team tartan". BBC Sport. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  26. Lewis, Jane (22 February 2018). "Andrew Butchart: Scot 'will come back stronger' after Gold Coast blow". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  27. "Andrew Butchart leads GB Euro Cross team". Athletics Weekly. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  28. Woods, Mark (27 September 2019). "Andrew Butchart's reprieve in Doha short lived while Lynsey Sharp also bows out". The Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  29. "Andy Butchart warned for abusing coach on social media". The Times. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  30. "Final results" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  31. "British Olympic trials: Dina Asher-Smith claims Tokyo 100m spot". BBC Sport. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  32. "Andrew Butchart's Olympics in doubt after 'fake Covid test' comments". The Guardian. 29 June 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  33. "Andrew Butchart: GB runner cleared for Tokyo 2020 after suspended ban". BBC Sport. 17 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  34. "Start List" (PDF). 2020 Summer Olympics. Omega SA. 3 August 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  35. "Andrew Butchart has Lottery funding cut after 'faked' PCR test". The Times. 19 October 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  36. "Scottish Record alert: Andy Butchart brings down 10,000m mark". Scottish Athletics. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  37. "Commonwealth Games 2022: Scotland take 33 athletes to Birmingham". BBC Sport. 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  38. Results
  39. "WARNER-JUDD AND BUTCHART SEAL UK TITLES AT 2023 NIGHT OF 10,000M PBS". UK Athletics. 21 May 2023. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  40. "Former Team GB Olympian Andy Butchart breaks parkrun record". BBC Sport. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  41. "Andy Murray concerned about father's wedding, not knighthood or Spoty title". The Guardian. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  42. "Edinburgh runner Lynsey Sharp gets engaged to fellow athlete Andrew Butchart". Scotsman. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  43. "Andy Butchart lifts lid on Scottish Championships build-up after becoming a dad". The Herald. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
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