AFTER BOWING OUT in the semifinals of the 400 at last year’s NCAA, Georgia’s Aaliyah Butler had a long talk with Bulldog head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert. “She said a lot things that I probably didn’t want to hear,” says Butler, who entered the ’24 NCAA as the No. 4 seed, but placed only 4th in her semi and did not advance. Butler concedes that the lapse had been mainly mental: “One thing Coach Caryl said was to just get out of my mind. I was thinking about a lot of things and putting a lot of pressure on myself.”
The pep talk worked. Less than 3 weeks later Butler returned to Hayward Field and finished 2nd at the Olympic Trials, booking a spot on Team USA for Paris. In August at the Stade de France she made it to the semifinals, then ran the heats of the 4×4, earning her a share of the gold medal secured in the final by the all-star quartet of Shamier Little, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas and Alexis Holmes.
Since then, Butler rolled through her junior year, capped by her first NCAA title in June, winning the 400 in convincing fashion before anchoring Georgia’s 4×4 victory. “I really just wanted to go out there and get a good lead and just control it, so when I came home I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming up on me,” Butler says of her individual crown. She lowered her PR to 49.26, moving to =No. 9 on the U.S. all-time list and No. 6 among collegians.
Sweetening the moment was the 2nd-place finish for teammate Dejanea Oakley, who broke 50 for the first time with her 49.65. “It was very exciting because I know how hard she works,” Butler says of her Jamaican teammate. “She pushes me to my limit and I push her to her limit, so working together and actually seeing it happen at Nationals was exciting.”
The relay win could have been anticlimactic, since Georgia had already clinched the team championship, but instead the race produced a dramatic finish that confirmed Butler’s dominance. She admits that she didn’t really have a chance to refocus after the 400, but “there was no pressure, no stress because we knew that we had the title in the bag at the time. So it was just go out there and run.”
Arkansas made it interesting, taking the lead at the final exchange, but Butler surged passed Rosey Effiong in the final 50 for the win, her 48.79 capping a collegiate-leading 3:23.62. “I didn’t want to go too early and burn out and get caught by her,” Butler says. “So I made sure that I was in the right position to go past her. I had won a national title and I also wanted my teammates on that relay to know the feeling of being a national champion.”
The Fort Lauderdale native has been on this trajectory since her youth. As a frosh at Sunrise’s Piper High in ’19 she won Florida 4A titles in the 200 (23.91) and 400 (52.25). After the pandemic she transferred to Miami Northwestern and won 3A titles in the 400 in ’21 and ’22.
As a Georgia frosh in ’23 Butler finished 5th at the SEC (in a PR and season’s best 51.32) and qualified for the NCAA in the 400 and both relays. Her soph year she placed 4th at the NCAA Indoor and broke 50 for the first time when taking 4th at the SEC outdoors (49.79). Then came her disappointing run at the NCAA.
Rebounding from that disappointment, she made the finals at the Olympic Trials and held the lead into the homestretch. She was ultimately passed by Kendall Ellis, but held on for 2nd, trimming her PR to 49.71. “During the season making the Olympic team was the goal but I didn’t think I was going to go for the 400 individually. I thought I would be in the relay pool,” Butler says. The experience in Paris “gave me more of a push of wanting to work harder for my goals,” she adds. “Going to the Olympics and helping the 4 x 400 get the gold medal, and me getting one, too, it gave me a lot of confidence. Especially for this season because during my races I didn’t get much anxiety or nervous and I think that really helped me.”
Off the track, she singles out the Opening Ceremony boat “parade” along the Seine as a high point, including meeting Team USA athletes like basketball star Stephen Curry.
Butler was unbeaten in the 400 during the ’25 outdoor collegiate season, rebounding from a runner-up finish to Arkansas’ Bella Whittaker at the NCAA Indoor. “I was kinda disappointed, but I wasn’t mad at myself; things happen,” says Butler. “But outdoors I really wanted to win it all plus the national championship.”
She told Georgia sprints coach Karim Abdel Wahab she wanted to improve her strength. “He switched up things a little bit for me so I would be able to finish strong,” Butler says. “He made workouts where I’d be tired at the end so I would have to finish strong as I would in a race.”
Butler took the collegiate lead with 49.44 at the Jones Invitational in April, then won the SEC title in May (and added a 48.86 anchor on the winning relay). In lane 6 for the NCAA final, she had her toughest competition in the lanes outside her: Oakley, and the Arkansas duo of Effiong and Kaylyn Brown, last year’s runner-up.
But she was prepared to avoid being distracted by the competition. “In practice we go over which times I need to run in each stage of my race, so it becomes muscle memory to me,” she says. “So if I line up with somebody who I know is a great competitor I would not react to them in the way that most people would if they get out fast. I will still know the time I need to run and know how to run it.”
And that’s exactly what she did, slowly cutting the stagger on her opponents and entering the homestretch with a 5-meter lead before running strong to the tape.
Who did Butler equal on the ATL with that 49.26 winning time? Why, all-time great Allyson Felix, no less. “It’s very exciting because I’m young and I know I can move up more on the list,” says Butler, who has an NIL deal with Nike. “So just knowing that I’m No. 9 right now, I’m very excited for the future and what else it holds for me.”
The immediate future will see her dip her toes in the DL waters at Pre and Monaco prior to the U.S. championships, where she will aim for a spot on the Worlds team for Tokyo in September. “I need to keep running my race and not let anybody change up my race plan,” she says. “Running my own race has been working well this whole season, so I won’t change that.”
