On Saturday, fresh off a silver medal at Canadian nationals, Toronto’s Justyn Knight clocked a 15-second 5,000m season’s best of 13:03.21 at Putbosstadion in Oordegem, Belgium–his fastest run since 2021, the second-best mark of his career and just 2.2 seconds shy of the 13:01.00 world championship standard. The performance comes in his first season back on the track after a three-year absence due to injury.
The time marks the fastest 5,000m by a Canadian this year–by a commanding 10-second margin.
While the performance gives him a considerable boost in the rankings, Knight still sits well outside the World Athletics points quota. He’ll need another fast 3,000m or 5,000m to get himself into the quota before the qualifying period ends on Aug. 24.
With only a few races left in the coming weeks, Knight isn’t left with many options–he’s set to race the 3,000m at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial on Tuesday in Budapest, chasing a win and fast time to score enough points to launch him into the 42-man quota. Another last resort? Next week’s Lausanne Diamond League 5,000m–which might be tough to get into.
Knight, 29, is the second-fastest Canadian in history over 5,000m with a personal best of 12:51.93, a mark he set in 2021. Only his Olympic teammate and Swoosh Track Club (formerly Bowerman TC) training partner, Moh Ahmed, has run faster (12:47.20); Ahmed is the only Canadian who has qualified for worlds in the event, having run 12:54.90 last August.
He’s back 🔥
Justyn Knight (@justyn_knight) runs 13:03.21 in Belgium 🇧🇪
It is the fastest time by a 🇨🇦 athlete this year, and his fastest 5,000m time since 2021! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/xoPoSEx28q
— Marley Dickinson (@marleydickinson) August 9, 2025
Saturday’s meet also saw Vancouver’s Kieran Lumb, the newly-crowned Canadian 5,000m champion, racing to 1,500m victory in 3:34.49–his second-fastest mark this year.
