Lamont Marshall has achieved the qualifying time for the 1500 metres in this summer’s Pan Am Games.

After years of trying to reach a major track and field championships, everything came together for the Devonshire athlete on Sunday when he finished second in a race in London, Ontario. The qualifying time he needed was 3min 49sec, he ran 3:48.53.

Marshall has run faster for the 1500m — his best is 3:46.51 — but hitting a qualifying standard ahead of a major championships has proved elusive for him until now.

The result comes less than a month after the 30-year-old set a Bermudian national record of 29:49 in a 10K road race in Toronto.

Having achieved his primary target for the season by reaching the qualifying level for the Pan Am Games, he is now setting his sights on running the Appleby Bermuda Day Half-Marathon Derby, on May 25.

It will be the first time since 2011 that he has competed in the Island’s most famous road race.

“Now he can go into the Derby more relaxed, knowing that he has achieved the qualifying time for the Pan Am Games,” said his father and coach Larry Marshall.

“Having run at the equivalent of a 4:05 mile, he is going to have to retrain himself for half marathon pace.

“In the 1500m he felt comfortable the entire race and was very pleased with the result.”

Marshall will focus on hill work ahead of the Derby race, which this year will start in the East End for the first time since 1976.

Sunday’s 1500m race was organised by the London Runner Distance Club. The winner was Connor Darlington in 3:48.07, while third place went to Alex Wilkie in 3:49.50.

Next month Marshall intends to return to Ontario, to compete in another 1500m race in London, where his target is likely to be a crack at Terrance Armstrong’s Bermuda record of 3:41.97, which has stood since 1998. He may also attempt to lower his own 5000m national record.

Marshall will be part of Bermuda’s team at the NatWest Island Games in Jersey, where he is scheduled to compete in the 1500m and possibly the 5000m.

The Pan Am Games will be held in Toronto in mid-July.