August 6, 2025
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"I belong here and I’ve proven myself. That message was definitely something that I carried into my senior year: just knowing that I belong. That was very powerful for me."
My guest for today's episode is Savannah Sutherland, a 21 year old Canadian hurdler who just made history in more ways than one, hailing from Borden, Saskatchewan. Savannah was named a finalist for the Bowerman, which is the highest honor in NCAA track and field, awarded annually to the most outstanding collegiate athletes in the sport.
She's the first Canadian female track athlete to ever reach the finalist status. I recently made an appearance on the CBC's Trackside show where I revealed that as a Bowerman voter, I already casted my vote. Savannah was ranked #1 for me.
She put together a jaw-dropping season at Michigan. She didn't just win her second NCAA title in the 400m hurdles, but she obliterated the NCAA record too with a time of 52.46 seconds, becoming the second woman in NCAA history to go under 53 seconds. The record that she broke previously belonged to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Savannah broke her own Canadian record, climbed to the 9th fastest of all time, and last year she even took 7th place in the Olympic final in Paris. In this episode, we chat about how she got so good at this event, her hopes and expectations for this summer's World Championships in Tokyo, and so much more.
Host: Chris Chavez | @chris_j_chavez on Instagram
Guest: Savannah Sutherland | @sav.sutherland on Instagram
Produced by: Jasmine Fehr | @jasminefehr on Instagram
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Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
