CITY of Plymouth international athlete David King set a new personal best on his way to victory in the 60m hurdles at the Mondeville Indoor Meet in France.

King clocked 7.65 seconds to beat American Dondre Echols and Poland’s Damian Czykier to the title.

That was one-hundredth of a second faster than he had ever run before and was the British qualifying time for the European Indoor Athletics Championships.

Afterwards King tweeted out: “So happy with the win, PB and European qualifying time in Mondeville.”

The event attracted some big names, including former world 100m champion Kim Collins. The veteran Saint Kitts and Nevis athlete won the 60m flat in Mondeville.

However, while King was setting his PB in France, his two main British rivals Andy Pozzi and David Omoregie were also running quick times at the Karlsruhe meeting.

Pozzi set a new PB of his own and a world leading time of 7.44 to take victory, with Omoregie just one hundredth of a second of his PB with a 7.64 second run to take fourth.

The trio should go head-to-head next weekend at the British Indoor Championships, which are acting as trials for the European Championships, which will be held in Belgrade in March.

Great Britain can take three athletes for 60m hurdles, with the top two at the trials automatically earning selection – provided they have run the qualifying time.

At the moment, Pozzi, Omoregie and King are the only athletes to have achieved the qualifying time.