After breaking the Under-23 Canadian record and winning the women’s 400-metre hurdles at the 2023 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Savannah Sutherland has been named the June Athlete of the Month.     

Sutherland’s record time of 54.45 seconds surpassed the World Athletics auto-qualifying standard of 54.90, placing her as the 11th fastest 400-metre hurdler in the world this year to date. At the NCAA 2023 event, she improved on her previous best time by nearly one full second, while beating the second and 16th fastest 400-metre hurdlers in the world.  

Sutherland left the event with more than a gold medal, becoming the first Canadian to win an NCAA Outdoor Track and Field title in 2023, as well as being the first Saskatchewan athlete to win since Brianne Theisen-Eaton in 2011. Sutherland’s winning time at the Outdoor Championships also achieved a new school record at Michigan State University, earned her First Team All-American honours and helped her to be named the Women’s Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year later in the month.  It also led to her qualifying for the 2023 World Athletics Championships.   

Sutherland was nominated by Saskatchewan Athletics.