Andrew Butchart

Andrew Butchart

Butchart at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Birth name	Andrew Butchart
Nationality	British
Born	(1991-10-14) 14 October 1991 (age 25)
Residence	Dunblane, Scotland
Occupation	Runner
Years active	2015–present
Sport
Sport	Long-distance running
Event(s)	3000 m, 5000 m, 10,000 m, cross country
Club	Central Athletic Club, Stirling
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	3000 m – 7:45.00 (2016) 5000 m – 13:08:61 (2016)

Andrew Butchart (born 14 October 1991) is a British runner who competed in the 5000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is the current Scottish record holder in the 3000 metre and 5000 metre events. Butchart currently lives in Dunblane, the same town as Andy and Jamie Murray.

At the age of 16, Butchart came third in the Scottish schools cross-country championships. Butchart trains at the Central Athletic Club in Stirling. He won the 2014 Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash. 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. 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. In November he won the Scottish Short Course Cross County Championships.

Butchart became a full-time athlete at the beginning of 2016. In February 2016, Butchart won the Scottish Cross Country Championships, 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. 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. 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. Butchart was the third athlete from Dunblane to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics, after brothers Andy and Jamie Murray. Butchart qualified for the 5000 metre Olympic final, after finishing fifth in his heat in a time of 13:20.08, and finished sixth in the final, recording a personal best time of 13:08.61. In 2016, he also won the 2016 London 10,000 race.