Saskatchewan’s Savannah Sutherland wins third straight conference title in 400m hurdles

Since her breakout performance at the 2023 NCAA Championships, Borden, Sask.’s Savannah Sutherland has dominated the 400m hurdles—and Sunday at the Big Ten Championships in Eugene, Ore., was no exception. The University of Michigan standout won her third consecutive conference title in the event, punching her ticket to the NCAA Regionals later this month in Florida.

Sutherland cruised through the prelims and final, winning each round by more than two seconds—a commanding margin in the one-lap race with 10 hurdles. She clocked 55.37 seconds in the final, nearly two seconds off her season’s best of 53.46, set last month. This marks her third straight Big Ten title in the event; the only time she didn’t win was in her freshman year in 2022, when she finished fourth.

The 21-year-old is currently the top-ranked NCAA athlete in the women’s 400m hurdles and a strong favourite to capture her second NCAA title, having won her first in 2023. Last year, Sutherland finished second to American Jasmine Jones in the NCAA final, but she set a new Canadian record of 53.26 seconds in the process.

Sutherland also made history last summer in Paris, becoming the youngest member of the 2024 Canadian track and field team to reach an individual Olympic final, where she finished seventh. She was the first Canadian to reach a women’s 400m hurdles final since Atlanta 1996.

Next up for Sutherland is the NCAA East First Round in Jacksonville, Fla., from May 28–31.

Rachel Forsyth breaks U20 5,000m record

Also making headlines at the 2025 Big Ten Championships was Michigan State distance runner Rachel Forsyth, who set a new Canadian U20 record in the women’s 5,000m. Forsyth finished fifth in her first collegiate season with a time of 15:43.81, breaking her previous U20 record of 15:47.04, set just last month.

She now holds four Canadian U20 distance running records, ranging from the mile to the 5,000m.