Colchester race walker takes 24 seconds off 31-year-old national mark held by five-time Olympian Chris Maddocks

Chris Maddocks’ British 50km race walks record of 3:51:37 has survived since 1990 and for much of the way in the Dudince 50km on Saturday (March 20) it looked like Cameron Corbishley was going to shatter the mark.

The 23-year-old led the race into the final 20km and was on course for a 3:45 clocking which would have obliterated Maddocks’ long-standing national record and also easily have been inside the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:50:00.

But he began to slow dramatically and fell outside of British record pace as he slid back through the field. Finishing strongly, though, Dominic King charged through to finish in 3:51:13, taking 24 seconds off Maddocks’ mark.

Behind, Corbishley clocked 3:54:15 after a painful final 10km, whereas Daniel King, the twin brother of Dominic, clocked 4:06:09 – his fastest time for 13 years despite having a five-minute penalty zone visit.

Erick Barrondo of Guatemala won the historic annual race walking event in 3:47:01 with Artur Mastianica of Lithuania runner-up in 3:48:24 and another Guatemalan, Angel Luis Sanchez, third in 3:48:56.

Corbishley had been No.2 on the UK all-time rankings with 3:53:20 from the same event in 2019, but he attacked this race with venom, taking the lead at 31km as he set a furious pace. At 40km he was still in the lead and on pace for 3:45 but at 43km he slipped back to third place and then fifth with 5km to go.

Not only was the British record was in his sights but also the standard for Tokyo. But he struggled in the latter stages as King, 37, used his greater experience to finish strongly as he race-walked his way into the history books.

#Dudince50kms Well done @DomKingOlympian @BritAthletics 3.51.14 British record ? Top effort @camcorbishley 3.54. Watched whilst indoor exercising ? pic.twitter.com/SaNj176j7T

— Chris Maddocks BEM (@CrisMaddocksNBC) March 20, 2021

King is used to following in the footsteps of Maddocks. In 2012 he became the first British athlete to qualify for the men’s 50km walk in the Olympics since Maddocks did so in Sydney 2000. And now he has broken the legendary race walker’s national record.

The Colchester athlete was 51st in those London Games – although his position was later amended to 48th after three Russians were disqualified due to doping – and he went on to qualify for the Rio Olympics, but he was disqualified for breaking race-walking technical rules in the event in Brazil. The same happened at the World Championships in Doha, where he was part of the British team.

Now, this coming Friday (March 26), the King brothers and Corbishley are set to join Tom Bosworth, Callum Wilkinson and others at the British Olympic marathon and 20km walks trials at Kew Gardens in London.