Canada’s Justyn Knight to join Nike Bowerman Track Club
It has been two years since Knight last raced professionally, placing seventh in the men's 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics
Photo by:
Kevin Morris
It’s been two years since Canada’s second-fastest man over 5,000m, Justyn Knight, last competed. On Monday morning, the Toronto native announced his plans to return to track and field, joining forces with fellow Canadian Moh Ahmed and Nike’s Bowerman Track Club in Oregon.
Knight will join forces with Bowerman coach Jerry Schumacher and two of the fastest North American 5,000m runners in history: Grant Fisher and Ahmed. “Moh has been my friend and a mentor,” Knight told CBC Sports in an interview. “I raced against Grant a ton in college. The Bowerman team is phenomenal. Just to train together, push each other, and bring out the best in each other. That’s an environment I’m very excited to be a part of.”
Knight didn’t start running until his last two years of high school and transitioned to a prolific collegiate career with Syracuse University in the NCAA, winning two national championships and becoming the school’s most decorated distance runner. He has represented Team Canada in the 5,000m at two world championships (2017 and 2019) and at the 2020 Olympic Games, where he finished seventh in the men’s 5,000m, in 13:04.38.
The 27-year-old holds a personal best of 12:51.93, which was set at the Florence Diamond League in 2021—the second fastest time by a Canadian, only behind his new teammate Ahmed’s 12:47.20.
Knight turned pro in 2018 and joined Reebok TC in Boston alongside Canadian 5K record holder Ben Flanagan. By 2019, Knight reportedly struggled with the transition to the professional scene, being sidelined with an injury and far away from friends and family.
He is expected to resume training and join the Bowerman squad in September following his surgery for a partially torn left Achilles tendon in June. The 27-year-old reportedly suffered an incomplete tear in the large tendon that joins the muscles of the calf to the heel bone, which has kept him out of competition for the majority of the last 12 months.
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