JO BUTTERFIELD has

always been one to set herself lofty goals.

It’s why it’s not particularly surprising that her latest target is to become the first British Paralympian ever to win gold at both the summer and the winter Games.

Having become paralysed below the waist in 2011 after developing a spinal tumour, Butterfield made

her name in para-athletics,

becoming European, world and then 2016 Paralympic champion in a world record distance in the F51 club throw.

She failed to successfully defend her Paralympic title at Tokyo 2020 and her fourth-place finish left her with, she felt, unfinished business and so she quickly set her sights on retaining her Paralympic title in 2024. However, that opportunity was to be unceremoniously snatched from her.

A shock announcement in late 2021 that her event was to be dropped from the 2024 Paralympic programme left Butterfield wondering where her future, particularly as an athlete, lay.

It was, she admits, a wholly uncertain time.

“It was awful – after Tokyo, I felt like I had a point to prove, and I would have proved that point in Paris. So to have that chance taken away was very hard,” the 43-year-old from Glasgow says.

“My initial thought was “what do I do now?. Athletics was what I did.

“It was suggested I could carry on and do it recreationally but that’s not why I did the sport. When you’ve been at Paralympic level, to step back and just do it for fun wasn’t an option for me.

With recreational sport not an option for Butterfield, her life as an athlete looked to be at an end, until

a call came from the performance director of British Curling, Nigel Holl.

Holl knew Butterfield well and on his suggestion, she decided she’d give wheelchair curling a go.

Her initial sessions prompted some strong encouragement about her potential from head coach Sheila Swan, but it wasn’t until August of last year that Butterfield was able to begin training on ice in anger.

There are, unsurprisingly, some extreme differences between para-athletics and wheelchair curling but Butterfield has also been pleasantly surprised at how many of her previously acquired skills she has been able to use in her new sport.

“The thing with curling is it’s tiny margins. A centimetre here or there has a massive impact on the outcome whereas being a thrower, I’d been used to trying to throw as far and as fast as I could – that doesn’t work in curling,” she says.

“I’ve found there is quite a crossover, though. You’re throwing both a club and a stone and there are a lot of cues that are similar in terms of being aware of your arm movements and shoulder position.”

With less than 18 months until the 2024 Paralympics, Butterfield is well aware that she has little time to waste if she’s to add her name to the list of only 28 Paralympians who have won gold at both summer and winter games

Having been given a second bite of the cherry, she is in no mood to waste a minute of this new career.

“To be given this second chance in elite sport is brilliant,” she says.

“I feel like I’ve got so much room for improvement and got so much potential and I’m excited to see how far I can go.

“The next Paralympics is very much in my head already – as soon as I got on the curling programme, I immediately said my goal was to add Winter Paralympic gold to my summer Paralympic gold, that would be incredible.”

“I’m very much still a newbie to curling but in the past few weeks, I’ve felt like a few things are starting to click and I’m really enjoying the challenge.”

It is, admits Butterfield, early days in terms of their international experience as a rink but never one to go to a major championship to make up the numbers, Butterfield is hopeful they can bring their best form when it really matters, which is something she was well-accustomed to as an athlete.

“I’m excited about the World Championship - I’ve got experience of big events and I’ve got the confidence that in the big moments, I can be composed and it’s nice to have that in my back pocket,” she says.

“We’re not the finished article and we’d be lying if we said we were shoo-ins to get a medal but we’re going to do our very best.

“On our day, we can beat anyone and we know that if we play to our potential, we can beat the top teams, we just need to do that consistently.”

Butterfield has also had to adapt to being part of a team but she and her squad-mates of Meggan Dawson Farrell, who is also a former para-athlete, Gregor Ewan and Hugh Nibloe will get their first major test this week, when they line up at the World Wheelchair Curling Championships in Canada.