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41-year-old Bernard Lagat qualifies for fifth Olympics with a crazy last lap

Bernard Lagat, a 41-year-old Kenyan-born runner who represents the United States, qualified for his fifth Olympics at the U.S. championships.

Bernard Lagat

Bernard Lagat, 41, qualified for his fifth Olympics on Saturday by winning the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore. in the men’s 5,000m. The Kenyan-born runner who now represents the United States ran a 52-second final lap to take the win in 13:35.50.

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Galen Rupp, the American record holder in the 10,000m, led the race by more than two seconds with one lap remaining but faded to ninth. He is expected to double in both the 10,000m and marathon at the Olympics in Rio in August.

Lagat grew up in Kenya before attending Washington State University where he ran competitively in college. He represented the East African nation at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics winning two medals in the 1,500m. He has the second fastest 1,500m of all-time behind legendary Hicham El Guerrouj.

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He represented the U.S. at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and will make it a fifth Games (and presumably last) in 2016. He dropped out of the 10,000m at the U.S. championships earlier in the week.

Along with Lagat, Hassan Mead and Paul Chelimo qualified for the U.S. team in the men’s 5,000m. All three were born outside of the United States.

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