North Yarmouth native Ben True raced to a sixth-place finish Saturday morning in the men’s 5,000-meter final at the world track and field championships in Beijing, China.
The 29-year-old graduate of Greely High School in Cumberland Center and Dartmouth College, who now lives and trains in Hanover, New Hampshire, went out in second place during the early stages of the race, trailing only Tom Farrell of Great Britain.
But a slow early pace set the stage for a sprint to the finish, with Great Britain’s Mo Farah running a 52.6-second final lap to win his second straight gold medal in the event with a time of 13 minutes, 50.8 seconds.
Caleb Ndiku of Kenya (13:51.75) and Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia (13:51.86) finished second and third, respectively.
Farah has now swept the 5,000 and 10,000-meter titles in the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2013 world championships and the 2015 world championships.
Galen Rupp was the top American and fifth overall in 13:53.90, followed by True, who raced in sixth place throughout the final lap before crossing the finish line in 13:54.07. The third American in the race, Ryan Hill, was seventh in 13:55.10.