Two athletes from the central Island area will compete, beginning over the weekend, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games (Dreamstime)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

GOING FOR GOLD

Nanoose, Parksville Olympic hopefuls ready for competition

Jul 29, 2021 | 10:10 AM

NANAIMO — Two athletes from the mid-Island are readying themselves for competition in Tokyo.

Nanoose Bay’s Michael Mason will contest his fourth Olympics after representing Team Canada at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 games. His best result was 8th at London 2012.

Mason’s event, the men’s high jump, will see its qualification round be held beginning around 5:15 p.m. (local time) on Thursday, July 29. Should he advanced to the finals, they would be held at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 1.

The 34-year-old has a personal best jump of 2.33, which he achieved in 2015.

Parksville’s Alycia Butterworth narrowly missed representing Canada at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Her event of the 3000 metre steeplechase will see heats begin at 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 31, with the finals scheduled for 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

Butterworth set a new personal best of 9:31.27 at a June 2021 meet prior to the Olympic qualifiers in Montreal. She won a silver medal at the Canadian championships in 2017.

She is a graduate from the University of Idaho, where she ran collegiately, with a degree in marketing and human resources and obtained her Masters of Data Science from UBC in 2019.

The steeplechase involves racing around the track while navigating 28 obstacles such as over-sized hurdles and seven water jumps.

Free live streams of Olympic track and field coverage are available through CBC’s network of websites or on CBC Television.

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