Butterworth

You could tell it was coming, but would it come in time? That was the question as Lindsey Butterworth stepped to the starting line of the women’s 800 metres at the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Trials in Montreal.

Looking at her times over the 2021 season, she was always right around the two-minute mark. But the Olympic Entry Standard remained just out of reach, at 1:59.50. As spring turned to summer, Butterworth needed to break through that two-minute barrier for the first time and it had to happen now.

Less than two minutes later, she crossed the line in first place, having beaten Melissa Bishop-Nrigau with a big kick down the final straight. When she saw a time of 1:59.19 on the scoreboard, and she knew she had finally achieved the standard.

“I’m so happy and I knew it was there and I just wanted to go out and compete,” said Butterworth. “I know that all of the girls in the women’s 800 metres are world-class, so I just wanted to get in there for the win.”

That long road to breaking two-minute barrier was a recurring theme in 2020. With so few events being run to offer the opportunity, Butterworth competed four times in August and September, winning twice in Canadian events and taking second at a meet in Belgium, but not achieving her goal.

The 2019 season saw Butterworth competing at the Pan American Games for the first time, where she finished fifth. She also made her second World Championships team and won the women’s 1,500 metres at the Brussells Grand Prix in a personal best time of 4:10.57.

Butterworth won her first Canadian title at the 2018 Canadian Championships in Ottawa, taking the women’s 800 metres in a time of 2:00.87. She would go on to lower that personal best time to 2:00.81 in a fifth-place finish at the NACAC Championships in Toronto.

Butterworth made her first World Championships team at the 2017 event in London, finishing 36th in the 800 metres.

Her college career was highlighted by winning the NCAA Division II 800-metre title in 2015 while competing for Simon Fraser University. She would also go on to represent Canada at the FISU Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, that year, placing seventh.