CITY of Plymouth’s David King admitted he was a bit ‘frustrated’ despite reaching the semi-finals of the 110m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

King backed up his Tokyo Olympic Games semi-final spot by matching that performance in Eugene.

He clocked 13.57 seconds in his heat to automatically qualify for the next stage and in his semi-final he did go quicker, clocking 13.51, but it was not enough to challenge for a spot in the final.

King, a finalist at this year’s World Indoor Championships, admitted he felt he was in shape to run even faster but he was not able to get a clean run in the semi.

“It was a little messy for me,” he said. “I took a few risks to really try to push myself, but I hit a couple of hurdles pretty hard and once you have done that it is hard to come back from it.

“I am a little bit frustrated as I think I could have done a bit better, but it’s one of those things – it’s championship racing.

“Although I have done a few championships, I don’t feel like the most experienced athlete, but I know it’s coming.”

He added: “Training has been amazing and I just need to put it into a race now.”

King is hoping he will get a chance to compete for Great Britain at the European Championships later this year after controversially missing out on a place for Team England at the Commonwealth Games.