Symington plays down Butchart funding pull
UK ATHLETICS performance director Sara Symington denied that Andy Butchart had been punished for his off-track transgressions after he was surprisingly axed from Lottery funding.
The beleaguered governing body unveiled its world-class performance squad yesterday with Olympic medallists Laura Muir and Josh Kerr among 10 Scots on a 67-strong list.
Joining them on the top tier of funding are Jemma Reekie, Jake Wightman, and Callum Hawkins while Lynsey Sharp, who recently gave birth to her first child, is also retained.
Butchart was sanctioned in the summer for what proved to be a claim made in jest that he faked a Covid test result to travel, but rebounded to come 11th in the Tokyo 2020 5,000 metres final as well as breaking his own Scottish 3,000m record.
But Symington claimed the omission of the two-time Olympian, who turned 30 this week, was nothing personal despite several lower-ranked hopefuls staying put.
She said: “All these decisions were fully based on performance. What happened before the summer is totally irrelevant to these decisions. We have 67 places and it was incredibly competitive.
“It was a nice headache to have. This time round, he just didn’t quite fit with where we were. He has been funded for six or seven years, he’s an incredibly talented athlete, but when we started looking at the 124 we were considering unfortunately he missed out on this occasion.”
Scottish sprinter Nicole Yeargin joins the relay list for the first time alongside Beth Dobbin and Zoey Clark. Dropping off are marathon duo Mo Farah and Steph Twell while sprinter CJ Ujah stays out while anti-doping complete their investigation into his positive drugs test following GB&NI’s silver medal in the 4x100m relay in Tokyo.
Symington also confirmed she has still not resolved a contractual dispute with Muir and Reekie’s coach Andy Young.
“That is the next bit of the jigsaw,” Symington admitted. “It’s not to take away from an incredible coach. But in terms of what and who and how in the consultancy agreements going forward, that’s yet to be determined.”