Bernard Lagat, Justin Gatlin charge their way into another Olympics

At age 41, Bernard Lagat made his fifth — and most unexpected — Olympics by winning the 5,000-metre final at the U.S. track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.

The American record holder was considered a long shot to make the team, but finished in 13 minutes, 35.50 seconds.

Joining him in Rio will be Hassan Mead and Paul Chelimo, who nudged out a sprawling Eric Jenkins by .06 for the last spot.

Galen Rupp held the lead late but faded over the last 800 metres and finished ninth. Rupp has already qualified for the marathon and the 10,000.

​Justin Gatlin won the 200-metre final, making him a three-time Olympian. Gatlin ran the 200 in 19.75 seconds to nudge out LaShawn Merritt by .04. Also making it was Ameer Webb, who finished ahead of high-schoolers Noah Lyles and Michael Norman.

Allyson Felix made it through her 200 semifinal and will be in the final Sunday. The 110-metre hurdles title went to Devon Allen, who runs track and plays wide receiver for the Oregon Ducks. Ronnie Ash and Jeff Porter took the other spots. Left out were three Olympic veterans: David Oliver, Jason Richardson and defending champion Aries Merritt.

Merritt, who received a kidney transplant in September, needed to finish in the top three to qualify for Rio. He clocked 13.22 seconds, a hundredth of a second behind third place. "I thought I had finished second or third," said the 30-year-old, who was leading with two hurdles to go.

"When it came up fourth I was shocked." He asked for a re-read of the finish photo, but officials said there was no change in the results.

The Associated Press and Reuters