Canada’s Savannah Sutherland eliminated in 400m hurdles heats at World Championships
Monday morning in Tokyo marked a surprising and devastating end to Canadian record holder Savannah Sutherland‘s world championship campaign. In the fifth and final heat of the first round of the women’s 400m hurdles, the Paris Olympic finalist and NCAA record holder finished fifth, missing out on an auto-qualifying spot (Q) into the semi-final. Her time of 55.68 seconds was also not enough to get her in as one of the four next-fastest times (q).
The Borden, Sask., native will not advance past the first round and is forced to settle for 27th overall.
“The plan was to have a smooth and controlled race,” Sutherland told Canadian Running post-race. “We knew that I should be getting a big Q in that heat–and, obviously, that didn’t happen. I’m definitely disappointed and, honestly, a little bit shocked with how it went. This was my worst race for a while, so I think it’s kind of still sinking in.”
Entering with a world No. 3 rank
The 22-year-old won her second NCAA title in June, clocking a blistering 52.46 to break world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone‘s collegiate record. (The run also lowered her own Canadian record.) With that time, Sutherland entered the competition ranked fifth overall, though her mark placed her third-fastest in the world for 2025, behind only defending world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands (51.91) and McLaughlin-Levrone (52.07).
Tokyo 2025 marks Sutherland’s second world championships; she also represented Team Canada at Budapest 2023, where she reached the semi-final and placed 16th overall.
A long season
The Canadian, who turned pro with Adidas in July, admitted she has been feeling the effects of having such a long season at an elite level. “[My body] is tired,” she said. “I think a lot of collegiate athletes–especially ones that have a lot of success throughout the collegiate season–can find it difficult to maintain their physical capacity and, mentally, to try to reset for another major championship. It can be hard to refocus and hold on for that long while continuing to perform at such a high level.”
Sutherland will likely be returning to the track for the heats of the women’s 4x400m relay on Sunday.
