Ahmed, Knight, Flanagan take top three spots in Canadian 5,000 metres

OTTAWA — Mohammed Ahmed kicked over the final 400 metres to pull away and win the 5,000 metres at the Canadian track and field championships on Thursday.

The 27-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., who was fourth in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, crossed in 14 minutes 36.08 seconds.

Justyn Knight of Toronto, who recently capped his university career at Syracuse with a silver medal at the NCAA championships, was second in 14:36.56.

Ben Flanagan of Kitchener, Ont., who won the 10,000 metres at last month’s NCAA championships to end his career at Michigan, was third in 14:36.65.

The field of 28 runners started at a pedestrian pace, but it was only a matter of time before Ahmed and Knight, finalists at last summer’s world championships, took control. They finally began to pull away over the final 400 metres.

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Ahmed earned an automatic berth on the Canadian team for the NACAC championships in August in Toronto.

Temperatures soared to a scorching 35 C for the afternoon events, but the skies turned stormy for the evening session, with blustery winds and intermittent rain. Volunteers gave out water on the backstretch during the 5,000 races, and doused runners with waterlogged sponges after they crossed the finish line.

Matt Hughes of Oshawa, Ont., who was 10th at the Rio Olympics — the best-ever finish by a Canadian — won the men’s 3,000 steeplechase in 8:54.00. Genevieve Lalonde of Moncton, N.B., won the women’s steeplechase in 9:49:07.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press