Syracuse senior Justyn Knight zoomed from the back of the pack to finish fourth in his heat on Wednesday at the IAAF World Championship.

Knight was in 12th with 800 meters to go in the 5000-meter race when he kicked and began passing runners. His fourth place finish (13:30.27) gave him one of the five automatic qualifying spots in the world final, which is Saturday at 3:20 p.m. and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network. He’ll face 14 other runners race for a world title.

Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia won the heat (13:30.07), twenty-hundredths of a second ahead of Knight. Kejelcha also edged Mo Farah of Great Britian, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, and Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris.

Five years ago, Knight ran his first 5000-meter race in St. Michael’s (Ontario) College School gym class. Five years ago, he set a gym class record. Five years later, 5000 meters put him in contention for a world championship.