Tom Bosworth broke the national 5k walk record last year

For every athlete there comes a critical moment in their career when a psychological barrier is broken down with a performance which takes them to a new level.

The quantum leap arrived for Tom Bosworth at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium last July. Clocking 19 minutes 29 seconds for the five kilometre walk at the national championships, it smashed his personal best and set a new British record.

It came in a purple patch which took even the Sevenoaks race walker himself by surprise and provided a reservoir of confidence which remains invaluable in the task of qualifying for the Olympics this summer.

“Every time I race I think of that moment, those last few laps it felt like I was walking on water - an amazing feeling,” he said.

“It really showed I’m at a high level now and why can’t I go and get a qualifying time [for the Olympics]? I ask myself where it came from every day, but the training had gone well. I’d had a few injuries in the spring but since about May I’d trained hard and went for a 20 kilometre PB. I got that and then did the 5k.

“Obviously I’d been waiting for the right race and it just came that day. The following week I then broke my PB for 10k, so it was a good few days.”

The 22-year-old finished 2011 ranked first in the country over 5k and 10k and second over the Olympic distance of 20k, catapulting him into contention for the London Games.

It has been a rapid rise for Bosworth, who until relatively recently thought dreams of competing at an Olympics would go unfulfilled.

He said: “Athens in 2004 was the first one I really remember watching - Paula Radcliffe, Kelly Holmes, people like that. The walks as well, I had been doing race walking a couple of years and never thought ‘that’s going to be me’.

“By Beijing in 2008 I was a good junior but still then you’re only doing 10k and as a senior you do 20k - it’s still a huge step. It’s another world to compete at a senior major championships. The Commonwealth Games taught me that and I’m just going to learn and see where it goes.”

The experience of competing at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, finishing 11th, should provide a useful foundation if Bosworth lines up on The Mall in August, but the priority is on achieving the qualifying standard as soon as possible. He needs to trim just over two minutes off his best time to have any chance of making the team, but after a strong training camp in Spain this month confidence is high for the opening race of the season in Switzerland in March.

He said: “If any athlete wasn’t thinking positively like that and putting themselves in those positions then they can’t be that determined to get what they want or achieve what they should be able to achieve.”

Photo by PAUL JERREAT