COLCHESTER race walker Dominic King says he has achieved a ‘life goal’ after breaking a long-standing British record.

The double Olympian broke Chris Maddocks’ long-standing national milestone for the 50km race walk, in Slovakia.

King clocked a time of 3:51:13 to break the British record which had previously stood for 31 years after competing at the 50km annual international racewalking competition, in Dudince.

The 37-year-old slashed 24 seconds off the record held by five-time Olympian Maddocks and the Colchester Harriers athlete was naturally delighted to race walk his way into the record books.

King said: “It’s another life goal achieved.

“It’s a record that’s been in the record books for a long time and it’s one of the longest-standing British records.

“I think it was back in October, 1990 that the previous record stood from.

“Chris Maddocks who previously held the record had been to five Olympics.

“It’s a huge honour to finally have that record, particularly in light of the fact that after the Tokyo Olympics, the 50k event is being changed so in many respects, it was the last opportunity I had to get the record.

“I’m really pleased that I’ve managed to do it, despite all of the challenges that I’ve had to face, over these last 12 months.

“It’s not quite sunk in yet but it’s good to bring the record back to Essex.

“I’ve got quite a few years of experience now but sometimes, you can put too much pressure on yourself to achieve certain goals.

“Sometimes, you just have to take confidence in the fact that you’ve done it all in training, you know you’re fit and it’s very much a technical thing, as everyone knows.

“There are more downs than there are ups along the way but this is definitely one of the peaks that I can look back on and be proud of.”

Cameron Corbishley had been on course for a 3:45 time, which would have smashed Maddocks’ long-standing national record.

But the Maidstone athlete slowed considerably and slid back through the field with King charging through and the 23-year-old eventually finished in 3:54:15.

“Cameron was leading the race up until about 40k,” said King, who competed for Team GB at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

“What makes the record even sweeter is that probably hardly anyone was thinking about me when I was walking in that race; they were thinking about Cameron because he was up the front and he was well inside the time.

“But what people have to understand is that a 50k race is 50k – it’s not 40k and as was demonstrated, you can be leading the race and on course to smash the record by five or six minutes but very quickly, you can hit the metaphorical wall in an endurance event and that can really set you back.

“For me, one of the positives that I’ll take from that race is that it’s the first time that I’ve ever achieved a negative split, where I’ve done my second half of the race quicker than my first half.

“It was 1:55:37 for the first half and 1:55:36 for the second.

“It was probably the perfect race and it couldn’t have gone much better, in terms of the splits.

“I think when I set out with the 50k back in 2007 or 2008, my goal first of all was to try and break four hours which I did and I then started to focus my attention on some of the other records out there.

“Having been to two Olympics, they’re goals that I’ve achieved and I’m proud of but the British record was something I really wanted to achieve.

“Ironically, I didn’t go into the race last weekend trying to break that record.

“I just wanted to try and get the best out of myself.

“I’m trying to break another British record which is the Vets 35 record which is 3:53:12.

“But the race was just the perfect race for me.

“I was feeling good and I decided to push on and I was on track to break not just the British record but also the Vets 3:50 time but unfortunately as always in a 50k race, you do get a bit tired towards the end.”

Daniel King, the twin brother of Dominic, recorded a time of 4:06:09 at the same event.

It was his fastest time for 13 years, despite a five-minute penalty zone visit.

“I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to achieve that without the ongoing support of family and my twin brother,” added Dominic.

“He is my training partner and throughout this pandemic, we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to train.

“He did a fantastic race as well and was unfortunate to have a five-minute pit penalty but he still achieved his fastest time for 13 years.

“Daniel is in many respects an unsung hero.

“There’s no shadow of a doubt that without his ongoing training and support and that of my coach, George Nibre, I wouldn’t be on that start line and you’ve got to have the right people around you to support you.

“It’s not just down to one person’s hard work – it’s a team effort.”

The King brothers are set to compete at the British Olympic marathon and 20km walks trials at Kew Gardens in London, on Friday.