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Justyn Knight set a new Canadian 1500-metre indoors record on February 28 at the Boston University Last Chance Invitational that took place at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center. He won Section 2 and ran the fastest time on the day, finishing in 3:36.13. The performance bodes well for his upcoming outdoor track season.

“I am very pleased with how the pace felt and getting my first Canadian record, however, I did feel like I had more in the tank and wished I made a move earlier in an attempt to lower my time by a couple of seconds,” said the 23-year-old.

He bettered Doug Consiglio’s 3:38.73 from March of 1986. Ten years before Knight was born. 

The Syracuse Orange alum told Athletics Illustrated, “the race went out well. I had to fight for position with Isaac Yorks, so I feel like I wasted a lot of energy straight from the gun until we hit 400m. After that, I was very comfortable. The pace felt smooth and I was content with sitting behind Chris O’Hare.”

O’Hare, a Scottish runner, has run outdoors as fast as 3:34.83. Knight’s best is more than one second slower at 3:36.07, but perhaps not for long.

“With 250m to go, I felt like our pace was slow and I wanted to bring it home. However I reserved another gear just in case Chris tried to pass me – he’s known for his crazy kick,” Knight added.

Knight has run the 3,000m as fast as 7:46.63 and 13:09.76 in the 5,000m on the outdoor tracks. He is the 2017 NCAA DI men’s Cross Country Champion.

The Tokyo Olympic standard for the 5,000m event is 13:13.50, very much within his ability. The 1500m standard is 3:35.00. 

Expect the Toronto native to toe-the-line in Tokyo in one of the two distances. 

Splits:

      14.726 (14.726)         43.414 (28.688)        1:12.182 (28.768)      
     1:41.466 (29.284)       2:11.100 (29.634)       2:40.077 (28.977)      
     3:08.212 (28.135)       3:36.121 (27.909)