David King meets under-eight competitors at the City of Plymouth Evening Open Meet
INTERNATIONAL athlete David King is back in Plymouth ‘refreshing’ after a frustrating European Under-23 Championships.
King was disappointment to narrowly finish outside the medals in the 110m hurdles last weekend in Tallinn.
The 21-year-old came fourth in the final in Estonia, having qualified fastest from the heats.
Despite a couple of early stumbles, King was just four hundredths of a second off winning bronze.
The former Devonport High School for Boys pupil was not happy with fourth, but he is keen to move on and put it behind him.
King, who trains in Bath, has the perfect chance to do that this weekend when he competes at the Loughborough European Permit Meet on Saturday.
However, before that he is enjoying a break in his home city.
“It’s nice to be back in Plymouth,” he said. “It’s a break from the high intensity at Bath.
“When I’m in Bath everything is about training, but coming back here is a nice break. I can relax a little bit and refresh.”
King has not forgotten his roots and he was at Brickfields on Wednesday night to offer encouragement to youngsters competing at his home club’s evening opening meet.
But this weekend it will be back to business for the 21-year-old.
“I’m racing on Saturday at the Loughborough European Permit Meet,” he said. “The line-up is really good.
“David Omoregie, who won the European Under-23s, and Lawrence Clarke, the UK leader who has just run 13.39, are competing. There’s also a load of other international guys. It will be good and should push me.”
King is desperate to get back out on the track after last weekend’s disappointment.
“I was gutted after the final,” he said. “My heat was really good, which kind of made the final more gutting.
“After the heat, where I was the fastest qualifier, I just got too excited.”
King admitted he was thinking about fighting it out with his GB team-mate Omoregie rather than executing his own race.
He did not get his first stride right and so messed up the first hurdle and then was always playing catch-up.
“It was really disappointing,” he added. “Fourth in European is still a nice title to have, but I wanted more than I got.
“It’s going to keep me hungry for the next couple of years.”
King is hoping to land an invite to next weekend’s Anniversary Games at the London Olympic Stadium.
“I have no idea when I will find out about that,” he said. “Literally I could find out in the next 10 minutes or it could be the day before.
“I’m hoping if I run well in Loughborough this weekend that will strengthen my case to get into the race.
“They usually give four hurdle spots out for the Brits. I am ranked third in the UK so I am hoping they do give out four spots again this year and I do get one of them.
“That would be a really good race for me. It would be a nothing-to-lose race against the best opposition in the world.
“No-one would be watching me and you can relax then because there’s no pressure. When I ran the indoor Grand Prix I got a PB there.
“It would be really nice to get there and run at the Olympic Stadium.”