BERNARD LAGAT has just qualified for his fifth Olympics at the age of 41.

    The Kenyan-American track-and-field star ran a blistering 52.82-second final lap to come from behind and win the 5,000-meter finals in a wild finish Saturday.

    Lagat, who turns 42 in December, will be the oldest U.S. Olympic runner in history, beating out Johnny Kelley, who ran the marathon at the 1948 Olympics at 40 years and 336 days old. Meb Keflezighi also will run the marathon at the Rio Olympics, but he just turned 41 in May.

    Thirteen-time world championships medalist Lagat won bronze in the 1,500 meters at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and silver in Athens in 2004.

    “I don’t believe I’m old,” Lagat said. “Because if you believe you’re old, I’m gonna run like an old man.”

    When he crossed the finish line in 13 minutes, 35.5 seconds, two-10ths ahead of Hassan Mead and less than a half-second before the third qualifier in the 5,000 meters, Paul Chelimo, Lagat was incredulous.

    He didn’t finish the 10,000-meter race on the first day of U.S. Olympic qualifiers eight days earlier. And now he had kicked like so many of those millions of previous strides, only better, finishing the final 400 in a crackling 52.82 seconds that none of his competitors could match.

    After winning bronze and silver medals in the 1,500 meters for his native Kenya, Lagat was naturalized and began competing for the United States, where he had moved after going to college in 1998. He struggled in his first Olympics for the U.S. in 2008 and finished fourth in the 5,000 in 2012. The best time in the world this year is below 13 minutes, so Lagat has some time to shave between now and Rio.

    Sprinter Justin Gatlin, who won the 200-meter dash and will also run the 100 in Rio, pulled Lagat close, then let him go to make a point.

    “It’s all here,” said Gatlin, pointing to his heart. “It’s all here.”

    Sanya Richards-Ross, the three-time Olympic sprinter who retired at 31 after the trials, embraced Lagat after delivering a fair assessment of his day. “The race of his life!” Richards-Ross said. (SD-Agencies)