Tre Houston, the Bermuda sprinter, has completed a “hat-trick” of qualifying for the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan Am Games.

Houston posted a personal best of 20.42sec in the 200 metres at the Texas State University Friday Night All-Comers Meet to qualify for all three competitions.

First up for Houston will be the Pan Am Games in Toronto next month, then the World Championships in Beijing in August before he starts building towards next year’s Olympics in Rio.

The 25-year-old said he was still “numb” after qualifying for the World Championships and Olympics for the first time.

The Olympics and World Championships qualifying time in the 200 is 20.50.

“It’s the first time I’ve qualified for the World Championships and the Olympics — that’s the pinnacle,” said Houston, who was running out of time to qualify for the Pan Am Games.

“I’m still numb and it’s hard to believe, but it shows you anything is possible with hard work and a good support team. I’ve just have to keep myself fit and healthy now.”

Houston, who is now ranked 52nd in the world for the 200, has pulled out of this month’s NatWest Island Games in Jersey to avoid aggravating an Achilles tendon injury ahead of the Pan Am Games.

He won gold medals in both sprint events at the previous Games in Bermuda two years ago, setting Island Games records with times of 10.5sec in the 100 and 21.2 in the 200.

Houston, who is based in his namesake city in the United States, will compete in the XL Catlin Bermuda National Championships at the National Stadium, which runs today and tomorrow.

The former Pacers athlete missed the entire indoor season because of injury, which makes his latest achievement all the more impressive.

He is the only Bermuda athlete to have reached the standard for the World Championships, which run from August 22 to 30.

Tyrone Smith, the Bermuda long jumper, met the qualifying distance at the Diamond League in Birmingham, England, last weekend but the wind was over the legal limit.

“The Achilles is slowly healing, but it’s just something I have to deal with until my season is over and I can get complete rest,” said Houston, who was unable to progress to either the 100 or 200 semi-finals at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“I still train in pain every day but I’ve learnt to handle it. I had that last-chance meet [to qualify for the Pan Am Games] and it was all or nothing. I had to pull something out of the bag that day.”

Houston is one of several overseas-based athletes who will compete in the National Championships today. It will be the first time he has run on home soil since the 2013 Island Games.

“I’m fit and ready but I wouldn’t say 100 per cent fit,” he said. “I was injured in January and February and came back in March, but [the injury] only allowed me to train once a week.

“Obviously my injury has started to get better and better. My coach told me I just had to push through it.”

The 20.42 Houston ran in Texas broke his previous best of 20.72, something he said was “long overdue”.

He added: “It just wouldn’t click on the days that I felt I should have done it. It’s definitely about being smart now that I’ve knocked out the standard.

“The [National] Championship is a very important meet, but it is not as big as the World Championships. I’m going into the race with a clear mind and I’m looking to win and obviously run quick.”

With two big competitions on the horizon, Houston accepts he will have to be cautious with the injury. “I can’t afford to miss two or three more months,” he said.

“It was such a struggle that I wanted to give up. Three weeks before this meet I called my parents and told them I felt like packing up the season because I didn’t feel like myself.

“It was also a struggle for me financially because I spent over $1,500 on rehab trying to fix my Achilles injury.

“A lot of people think you just need a pair of spikes and you can run, but this sport is expensive.”