Canada's Justyn Knight signs with renowned Bowerman Track Club while recovering from surgery

Justyn Knight hasn't raced since the men's 5,000-metre final of his 2020 Olympic debut and he'll miss a second straight World Athletics Championships, which begin later this week, yet he can hardly contain his excitement.

That's because fellow Canadian Moh Ahmed, the reigning Olympic silver medallist, and college rival Grant Fisher are his new Bowerman Track Club teammates. Knight announced on Instagram Monday that he join them in the fall in Portland, Ore., after signing a multi-year contract with Nike in late July.

"Moh has been my friend, my mentor," Knight told CBC Sports before Monday's official announcement. "I raced against Grant a ton in college [at Syracuse University]. The [Bowerman] team is phenomenal. Just to train together, push each other, bring out the best in each other. That's an environment I'm very excited to be part of."

Knight won't arrive at Bowerman until at least September following June 1 surgery in his native Toronto for a partially torn left Achilles tendon. The 27-year-old suffered an incomplete tear in the large tendon which joins the muscles of the calf to the heel bone.

Knight spent nearly a year trying to strengthen muscles around the Achilles and believed he was progressing before the tendon flared up. Surgery was deemed necessary if the three-time Canadian silver medallist in the 5,000 wanted to regain his pre-injury form.

He ran the Tokyo Olympic final on Aug. 6, 2021 with the injury and placed seventh in the 16-man field in 13 minutes 4.38 seconds, a little under six seconds behind Ahmed (12:58.61) — Canada's first Olympic medallist in the distance.

"I could feel the Achilles flaring up and I was [in the mix for a medal]," Knight recalled. "My body was in shape enough to do it, [but] one specific area of my body wouldn't allow me. I would say I have a pretty good pain tolerance and I'm determined.

"After the semifinal [three days earlier] I had trouble walking and cooling down [but] was able to recover for the final. After that I said, 'Enough's enough.' I came home, got an MRI and was diagnosed with a partial tear."

WATCH | Ahmed 3rd, Knight 5th at 2021 Diamond League meet in Italy:

"Incredible," the Somalia-born and St. Catharines, Ont.-raised Ahmed said of Knight's Olympic performance in a recent interview with CBC Sports. "It tells you what the body can do if you train it well, it's fit and conditioned. In 2021, every race he ran was incredible."

Knight's 2021 breakthrough campaign as a professional included a personal best in the 1,500 (3:33.41) on May 9 and a month later in the 5,000 (12:51.93).

"He's a 12:50, 12:51 guy. How many of those are out there? Very few," Ahmed said over the phone from Switzerland, where he's training at altitude ahead of the Aug. 19-27 worlds in Budapest, Hungary. "From a talent and accomplishment standpoint, he'll contribute a lot [to Bowerman]."

Knight remembers experiencing discomfort in his Achilles when he finished second in the outdoor 1,500 on April 24, 2021 at the USATF Grand Prix at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

"I had slight pain [in that race]. I didn't know what it was, but didn't stop me from training," he said.