Colchester's two-time Olympian Dominic King is on course to make history after booking his place at the IAAF World Championships.

The 33-year-old clinched his spot at this summer’s 50 kilometre race walk event in London after clocking the third fastest time of his career at his British Athletics trial race, in Slovakia.

King finished 13th overall after achieving a time of four hours four minutes 16 seconds, his fastest 50k season opener.

That helped secure the Colchester Harriers athlete’s place at the World Championships, with his selection set to be officially rubber-stamped next month.

And having already competed at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games in England, race walker King is now set to become the first athlete to compete in a hat-trick of major sporting competitions in his own country.

King told the Daily Gazette: “It’s certainly not a common thing for the same country to host three different major sporting events in a short space of time like this.

“It would be fantastic to compete in all three – I’m not sure if anyone else has done that.

“It would be a good thing for the CV and great to go back to London and back to the Olympic venue.

“Between now and then, there’s a lot of hard work to do to get fitter and make sure I prepare myself right and I’ll continue to work on my technique.

“I work full-time and have a family so hopefully something like this will give inspiration to those with similar lifestyles that it can be done.”

King had already achieved the World Championships qualifying time set by British Athletics after clocking 3h 55m 48s in Germany, last October.

But he needed to finish as one of the top-two British competitors in Slovakia to clinch his place at the World Championships, which take place in August.

“It’s a big weight off my shoulders,” said King, who is coached by George Nibre.

“It was a good quality field there and there were a lot of guys competing who had been at the Olympics and world championships.

“Germany was my best display but I’m really proud to have achieved what I wanted to achieve.

“It’s not an easy course with lots of turns but it was a race that I had to do.

“I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, because there’s a lot of pressure to finish.

“I knew that I could make the time but with the 50k walk, it’s not that easy to finish because of the technique side of it.

“The race went well – I picked up one warning just before the 20k mark, so that made me determined to be more cautious.

“For my whole career, I’ve always been the master of my own technique.

“I believe I’m getting better at it but it does take a lot of work to correct minor issues.

“I had a number of aims and the number one objective was to go out and complete the race, ideally with me winning.

“I got one warning but no cautions from the judges, so I was pleased with that.

“Never before in my career have I produced a time as fast as this at this stage, so that bodes well.

“I know what works and what doesn’t work in terms of preparation and that’s important.

“My coach George Nibre is very experienced and I have a very good support team around me.”

King, who competed at the Rio Olympics last year, now plans to take part in a number of 20k events as part of his preparation for the World Championships.

He is hoping to compete at the European Race Walking Cup which takes place in the Czech Republic, on May 21.