EUGENE, Ore. -- Bernard Lagat has qualified to make his fifth -- and most unexpected -- Olympics by winning the 5,000-meter final at U.S. Olympic Track and Field track trials Saturday at Hayward Field.
Lagat, 41, topped a talented field to highlight an evening when a handful of past medal winners were rewarded for their experience and will have history in their sights at next month's Summer Games.
"I train with young guys, and I don't believe I'm old," Lagat said. "If you believe you're old, you'll run like an old man."
Lagat won Olympic medals in the 1,500 competing for Kenya in 2000 and 2004. This will be his third time running for the United States in a Summer Games, though he has yet to medal. Lagat finished in fourth in the London Games.
Lagat's emotional victory set the stage for an exciting 200 final.
"It happened before my race," Justin Gatlin, 34, said. "Watching him come across the line and fill up with emotions, it inspired me. I knew it was time for me to go."
Running from Lane 8, Gatlin won in impressive fashion and will have a chance to medal in two races at Rio. LeShawn Merritt also will attempt a double at the Olympics. With Lagat's finish fresh in his mind, Gatlin posted a time of 19.75 seconds, 0.04 ahead of Merritt.
"If a guy can have the guts to go out there and do what he does at his age, I can go out there and do what I need to do, especially from Lane 8," Gatlin said.
Gatlin, meanwhile, has qualified for both the Olympic 100 and 200 for a second time. In 2004, before he served a four-year ban because of doping, Gatlin won gold in the 100 and bronze in the 200 in Athens.
While Gatlin came out hot from the starter's gun Saturday, Lagat had to come from behind in the 5,000, using a powerful late kick to move from sixth to first down the stretch. Among those he passed late: Galen Rupp, who already has made the Olympic team in both the marathon and the 10,000. Rupp led late in the 5,000 but faded on the final lap, surrendering the lead and finishing in ninth.
Former Arkansas sprinter Tyson Gay, 33, still had enough fuel in the tank to make the final of the 200 meters, but he couldn't put together a strong finish.
Gay ran 20.38 to take sixth.
It was Gay's sixth race of the Trials after he was fifth in the 100 final last week and the workload appeared to take a toll considering he ran faster in his 200 semifinals (20.16) Friday night than in the final.
Gay still has made his third Olympic team as a member of the 400 relay pool on the strength of his performance in the 100.
Taylor Ellis-Watson, a senior at Arkansas this year, ran 23.25 in the 200 semifinals and didn't make the final. She already has made the Olympic team as a member of the 1,600 relay pool after taking fourth in the 400 last week.
In other finals Saturday, London silver medalist Will Claye won the triple jump. Christian Taylor and Chris Bernard will also head to Brazil.
In the 110-meter hurdles, Oregon wide receiver Devon Allen won over Ronnie Ash and Jeff Porter, who are also are headed to Rio. London Games medalists Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson did not make the team.
Texas A&M's Maggie Malone won the women's javelin with a throw of 199-7, to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Third-place finisher Kara Winger and fourth-place finisher Brittany Bowman also earned a trip to Rio. The second-place finisher did not have the Olympic standard.
Olympic veteran Allyson Felix finished second in her semifinal heat to move into the eight-woman final at 200 meters.
She will race today to try to secure her spot in the 200, which would give her a chance for the 200-400 double in Rio.
Felix finished her semifinal in 22.57 seconds -- .3 behind Tori Bowie, but still safely in second.
Also in today's final: Deajah Stevens, Jenna Prandini, Gabrielle Thomas, Ariana Washington, Tiffany Townsend and Jeneba Tarmoh.
In other news involving Arkansas athletes, Razorbacks sophomore Taliyah Brooks and Alex Gochenour, a senior at Arkansas this year, rank eighth and ninth through the first four events of the heptathlon.
Brooks has 3,589 points with marks of 13.39 in the 100 hurdles, 5-11½ in the high jump, 37-10¾ in the shot-put and 24.85 in the 200. Gochenour has 3,543 points with marks of 13.43, 5-7¾, 41-5¾and 24.79.
Sports on 07/10/2016